I'm getting ready to be away from home for a week and a bit. Very twitchy -- clearly tense about the prospect of crossing the border and travelling so far alone for the first time since (holy Dinah!) the mid-1980s.

The itinerary is very relaxed, with lots of time to rest, find a loo, get lost, and otherwise make retrograde progress. I have only one deadline: arrive at the West River Retreat Center (sic) by supper-time on Friday. The cats will be fine, with an experienced cat-visitor coming in every day. I have plenty of money. What in blazes is my problem?

My last major task before leaving is finishing the minutes from the last choir board meeting. Surely I'll settle down when that's done.

Dorothy, the hearing loss you describe is common in my family, and I fully expect to develop it myself over the next fifteen years if I live that long. The only coping method we have found is to avoid large groups and noisy places -- even church if the organ will be played -- and get a one-on-one briefing after public meetings and other gatherings for information. Yes, it's limiting, but my elders managed it by organizing the younger generation to provide those briefings and by writing a hell of a lot of letters. Without children and grandchildren to depend on, I'll have to find other means when it happens to me.

My elder brother -- an ex-artillery officer -- also suffers from the kind of deafness that comes from exposure to loud noise and explosions. His hearing aids meet about half his needs, and I'm impressed by his efforts to hide his frustration. One of my brothers-in-law is a retired plumber who worked in a Chrysler assembly plant for decades. He manages his hearing loss, now nearly total, with hearing aids (again, only partially effective) and by using headphones to listen to radio, podcasts and audiobooks.