CHEESES IN ITALY

I've been accused of not listening and of being hard of hearing. Although I admit not being able to hear some high pitches, and while I never had the acute hearing of my wife and her older sister, I'm pretty sure I don't have a hearing problem.

I will admit to having trouble with people not enunciating, not talking loudly enough, mumbling, and talking with mush in their mouths. Music lyrics get garbled by me, too. But that's happened since I was four and I thought Mr. Sandman was bringing drinks, not dreams. And I was always thirsty during the night, so I wanted him to visit me, too.

I've had friends who had hearing difficulties from playing music too loudly. One lost hearing before or right after college because of listening to loud live music at a bar he frequented. And it hurts me to see young adults blast their ipods/mpgs/tivos/divos/blackberries--whatever with sounds so loud that I can hear them standing three feet away.

But while I was listening to a Bible Study lecture a couple of Mondays ago, I guess I hit my alltime low. Dennis, our speaker, a very good speaker, utter to my erroneous ears,"Paul introduced cheeses to Italy." Of course, before taking down that note, I adjusted to "Paul introduced Jesus to Italy."