What's that sound?
Just a short one tonight. Tomorrow is Spring Career Fair, and we have 149 employers coming. There will probably be 1500 people through the doors. I have to go to bed early and get down there at 6:30am.
Tonight I was over at grandson Max's house. He is an energetic two and half year old. After we rolled around on the floor and chased each other for a while, we rested for a moment and he said, "What's that sound?" I realized he was talking about my heart. You see, I have an artificial heart valve that was installed in 1999. That's a story for another time.
But the valve makes a clicking noise that usually no one but me can hear. If the room is quiet, though, other people can hear it too. And so it was with Max tonight. I explained that it was my heart, and he said, "Show me."
"I can't show you. It's inside!"
"Where's my heart?"
"Right here, behind this bone."
"What bone?"
"This bone, right here."
"Show me."
"I can't show you. It's inside!"
He laid his head on my chest and listened for a moment, then said, "I don't like that sound." His father pointed out that it meant that "Da" (me) would be around for a while. He put his head on my chest again, listened and repeated, "I don't like that sound."
Well, I like that sound. It's very comforting when I am lying in bed, falling asleep. It gets kind of noisy, though, when Kathy and I are, um, active. It's a fun sound when I'm at the office working with someone on a project and the room is still enough to have them ask, "Is that your watch?"
posted by Career Guy @ 9:03 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
I love that sound too. It's very comforting. Sometimes, after I've visited you, Peter will catch me listening to his heart when I hug him and he'll say "No, mine doesn't tick."
Hi John,
thanks for visiting my site. I will keep checking in to yours.
It's the simple things in life we like. Like the sound of your heart. Bet all the money in the world wouldn't be worth not hearing that sound. Glad you have it.
By the way, I'm only old for the people in blogging world. In myself I am still a young 20 year old but my body acts like a 70 year old. Go figure. Hee Hee.
I've often found the sound/sensation of my own heartbeat to be very disconcerting--because it reminds me of how fragile my physical existence is. If ever that sound/sensation ceases, I ain't got long to stay here (as the old spiritual "Steal Away" puts it). And it doesn't help that my dad's mom had CHF (congestive heart failure), my dad had CABG x 3 (triple coronary artery bypass graft), and my mom's mom had a leaking heart valve (never repaired surgically).
Jeff,
Sounds like you have the right (or wrong) genes. Hope you stay on top of that with your doctor.
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