Silence is Golden

458

By Kathy Miele
I woke up feeling fine, but when I wandered out to the kitchen to grab my first cup of tea I stopped to say good morning to Steven and nothing came out of my mouth.
“Are you feeling alright?” Steven asked as I grabbed my throat and tried to speak again. The only thing that came out was some small squeaky noises so, I shook my head yes instead.
This wasn’t the first time I’d had laryngitis. In fact, I used to get it all the time, but I hadn’t had a bout of it in years.
“Are you going to go to work?” Steven asked.
I shook my head yes. I really didn’t see a reason to stay home. I felt fine. Every time I’d had it before I was told it wasn’t contagious. In fact, the only thing the doctor would tell me to do would be to rest my voice and gargle with salt water, both of which I could do at work.
I was finished getting dressed for work and I went back to the kitchen for my second cup of tea. That’s when I ran into my son, Alex. “Morning,” he said.
I gave him a thumbs up.
Alex looked over at me. “Are you all right?”
Now it was time for me to play a quick game of charades. So I touched my throat, opened my mouth and shrugged my shoulders.
“You lost your voice?” he asked.
I smiled and gave him a thumbs up.
“I can’t afford to get sick right now,” Alex said as he took at quick step away from me.
“She’s not contagious!” Steven called from the other room. “She used to get laryngitis all the time!”
Alex looked skeptical but I mouthed the words, “I’m not” to him before I grabbed my cup of tea and headed out the door.
Spending a day at work not being able to speak can be peaceful and also exhausting. Depending on who needs you at the moment, they either feel sorry for you and leave you alone or, if it’s truly important, you can only hope they can understand your mix of high-pitched squeaks accompanied with a lot of hand gestures.
After a long day of trying not to speak, I walked up to my front door hoping to be able to squeeze in a quick nap before it was time to make dinner.
Imagine my surprise when I walked into the house and saw that my three guys had already set the table and were sitting on the couch watching television. “Dinner’s on it’s way,” Steven said. “We ordered Chinese.”
I couldn’t help by smile as I managed to get out a rough sounding, “Thanks.”
Steven stood up. “Don’t talk,” he said. “Why don’t you go change into your sweats and by that time your wonton soup should be here.”
I couldn’t believe how grateful I felt as I gave a quick thumbs up to all my guys and headed to the bedroom to get changed. As I was walking down the hallway I could hear Steven giving the boys some last-minute instructions. “Remember guys, clean up any mess you make in the kitchen tonight and try not to make your Mom talk. Just let her rest.”
Silence is golden I thought as I looked forward to a nice quiet evening.