Don’t do as I do

We see our adopted grandfather almost every day. He has some age related deafness easily helped by hearing aids, but as he hates the things, he often takes them out and ‘forgets’ them, which is really frustrating as he becomes almost as deaf as me and in order to cope he has some very annoying strategies.

If Harold isn’t wearing his hearing aids and someone engage him in conversation, he simply says ‘yes’ to everything rather than admit he doesn’t understand. Sometimes with some very funny results, like the time he had agreed to let the boys shoot him with water pistols, but more than a couple of times it has happened that Rob and I have given him directions to meet us somewhere and him got lost with no hope of finding us as he didn’t even know what he was looking for.

One day I asked him something and he said yes where the answer by any logic and reason should have been ‘no’. I asked him what I had said. He conceded he didn’t know and suddenly it all made sense, but I was quite offended.

I was in the middle of telling him how I felt, when I realized with embarrassment I was doing the same, especially when tired or if I didn’t like to ask the person to repeat themselves. Ouch!