What? Huh?

Poor R. He probably hears those words come out of my mouth more than any others. And I know sometimes it annoys him to no end. But you see, I have this problem. I don’t hear things a lot. I don’t mean like I’m going deaf already, but if I’m not paying attention and you start talking to me, there’s a very good chance that I will miss the first couple of words you aim in my general direction.

I don’t do it on purpose, I really do want to hear what people say to me. But sometimes I just can’t help it and I’ll miss the first part of a sentence. This happens at home all the time. We’ll be watching tv, or I’ll be on the computer or something, and R will start talking to me. Well, I’m all engrossed in whatever it is I’m doing and not anticipating the words that are about to come out of his mouth, so 9 times out of 10 I have to ask him, “What?” Or, “What’d you say?” It’s even gotten to the point where if he says something to me or asks me a question and I don’t respond but instead just sit there blinking at him, he knows he needs to repeat himself. Sometimes he gets fed up and just shakes his head saying, “Never mind,” which then drives me crazy because I really do want to know what it is he said.

Again, I blame this not on disregard for what is being said to me, but on not paying attention. R will swear he’s told me something that I cannot remember for the life of me. And it’s honestly not because I’ve ignored him. It’s just because I probably wasn’t paying full attention to him when the conversation started. I’m not not listening to him, I just don’t hear him at first. And I’m sure he wouldn’t admit it, but he mumbles a lot too. He does. So that doesn’t help either when words start coming my way and my ears aren’t primed and ready for them.

I have so many dialogues and lists running through my head at any given moment, that if someone catches me off guard with their words it’ll take me a second to catch up to the conversation at hand. So if you start talking to me and I have to throw in a couple “What?”s, please don’t be offended. It’s just my own special little way of letting you know I care enough to want to hear what you’re saying. I’m listening, I promise.