Muffins with Mom – Lost and Found

A soothing cup of tea
photo credit

I lost something recently and my teen son wasn’t too excited to help me find it. What did I lose? My voice. I searched for it everywhere – under my pillow, in my closet, I even whispered to it. I was rewarded with a “squeak.”

It was official, I had laryngitis. Although I felt it coming on the night before it happened, I kept hoping I was wrong. This was on time I wasn’t happy about being right.

When I went to wake my son for school, I turned on the light in his room and said, “It’s time to get up.”

What I think he heard was, “…time to get up.”

“I can’t hear you,” he said.

My son finally opened both his eyes, squinting he tried to read my lips.

“GET UP,” I shouted. At least I thought I was shouting.

He finally understood what I was saying, “Maybe you shouldn’t try to talk, you’ll strain your voice.”

I left my son’s room and prepared for work. I gargled with warm salt water, had a cup of tea, and then headed off to work.

While at work, I tried not to talk on the phone much. However, there was one instance where a call was transferred to me, so I went ahead and tried to talk. I already knew my voice would either squeak or I would have the baritone sound of a man.

As pleasantly as I could, I said, “Hi this is Angie.”

The caller responded with, “Boy you sound awful.”

“And that’s why I’m trying to stay off the phone,” I told him.

“Do, you want to meet today to go over summer programs?” he asked.

I’m sure he already knew the answer to the question, but I responded anyway, “No, we can wait a couple of days.”

After we ended the call, I made a cup of tea and stayed away from the phone for the rest of the day.

During my time of limited conversation, I was grateful for modern technology.  I communicated with people through email while at work. Once I was back home, I made demands of my son by text (using all caps) so I didn’t have to strain my voice by yelling.

Because I kept trying to talk rather than rest my vocal chords, it was four days later before I found my voice. And it was a happy day.

Have you lost anything lately, literally or figuratively?