big wheels keep on turning

i am on week five now of seemingly never ending crud. it appears to be a different sympton each week. this week is the fact that i can't hear. out of either ear. i am not in a hurry to get to the doctor. because it doesn't hurt. and i feel pretty good. and i now know how frustrating it must be for my dad not to be able to hear. he has hearing aids. in both ears. but they don't work. he has never been able to get them properly adjusted. i am sure it is maddening. about as maddening as taking a road trip with three deaf people. to go see yet another deaf person. you see, this temporary hearing loss of mine brings back a memory. i am not sure of the circumstance but back in junior high i drove with my dad, my gramma (his mom) and my great aunt (my gramma's sister) to my uncle's (my dad's brother) house in kenosha, wisconsin. yes, we took big red. i think it was spring break. so, we showed up in wisconsin just in time for the fourth of july fireworks. anyway, my dad drove and i was in the front passenger seat. my gramma and my great aunt were in the back seat. i remember there was still a little snow on the ground as my gramma made comments about the beautiful fields. my dad and i just looked at each other like she was completely nuts. the next thing i know we are filling up with gas just north of chicago. i am surprised that we didn't run out of gas. my dad is famous for that trick. i had my eye on that gas gauge like a hawk. believe me. especially when i started to see signs for the loop. as we all got out of the pool, as my dad likes to say, we were stretching our legs and then it happened. my great aunt let out this belch like no other. my dad has burped the alphabet and yabba dabba doo, among other things, ever since i can remember. and i had learned to accept it. i just didn't know where he got it from. now i know. and the thing is my gramma and my great aunt had already made it back into the car. so, it was just me standing there. outside of the car. alone. i thought i was going to die. they laughed for miles as we continued to drive down the road. i was still sunk down in my seat. just like in elementary school. until we got to my uncle's house. our visit with my uncle was uneventful. until we went to breakfast one morning. i don't know what it is about humphrey boys and their choice for breaksfast establishments. but it ain't good. i have a few specifically about my dad for a later time. apparently, it's hereditary. i think we drove all the way to minnesota for this hole. my uncle liked it because it was the only place that would burn his food. on purpose. he likes his food burned. and he orders it that way. i guess ketchup will kill the taste of anything. so, we are on our way back to his house in big red after a fine breakfast. well worth the drive from what i can remember. not. i feel the need to lighten the mood. i had this really great joke. so i start to tell it. i can hardly keep from laughing while telling it. it was so funny. so, i get done and i am laughing. hysterically. no one else is laughing. my gramma and great aunt are in the back seat. i look back and they are both looking out the window in opposite directions. didn't hear a word i said. i look over to my uncle. he is looking out his window from the front passenger seat. i look over to my dad who is driving. he is busy messing with his toothpick. oblivious. as i sit sandwiched between my uncle and my dad in the front seat i realize no one, besides me, knew i was even talking. now that was even more funny than the joke i had just told. but i couldn't tell anyone. because they couldn't hear me.