Reading Cupid's lips
I don’t have very good hearing. I was born with an ear infection, and was partially deaf in both ears as an infant. I had surgery to put tubes in my ears several times as a child. Last time I checked my range, I was still within the normal human range of hearing, but towards the bottom end.
It’s never been something that really bothers me. I hear well enough to know there are cars coming up behind me when I’m on my bike, which is the important thing isn’t it? I have nearly no sense of smell either come to think of it. But my vision is acute. I was last tested at 20/10. Having bad hearing, but good vision has an odd side effect in my dealing with people in every day life. You would never notice it unless I told you, but most of the time I’m talking to someone, I’m looking at their mouth. I never deliberately tried to do this, I just instinctively picked it up as a child. Watching the way people’s mouths moved when they spoke helped me hear what they were saying.
It’s not something I do on purpose, and I never know I’m doing it really, but today something happened and I realized I was doing it again.
Driving around town, I was stopped at a stoplight. In my side mirror, I could see a blue Volvo station wagon behind me, with a woman behind the wheel smiling brightly and fidgeting.
Looking in my rearview told the rest of the story. Her boyfriend was in the passenger seat, leaning in close and kissing her repeatedly on the side of her neck, petting her black hair and whispering that he loved her. I could read his lips in the mirror, he said he loved her and that she was beautiful.
I watched this exchange with an aloof detachment, thinking in a way that by watching them I was invading their privacy. But I also felt a little privileged to see it. How often do you see people have these moments, really?
The light changed, and the woman was looking back at her lover, watching my car with her peripheral vision while she kissed him. I stayed there for several long seconds while the light was green, not because I wanted to stay and watch them longer, but because I knew once I started moving then they would too. Their moment was too precious, I didn’t want to rush them.
It’s never been something that really bothers me. I hear well enough to know there are cars coming up behind me when I’m on my bike, which is the important thing isn’t it? I have nearly no sense of smell either come to think of it. But my vision is acute. I was last tested at 20/10. Having bad hearing, but good vision has an odd side effect in my dealing with people in every day life. You would never notice it unless I told you, but most of the time I’m talking to someone, I’m looking at their mouth. I never deliberately tried to do this, I just instinctively picked it up as a child. Watching the way people’s mouths moved when they spoke helped me hear what they were saying.
It’s not something I do on purpose, and I never know I’m doing it really, but today something happened and I realized I was doing it again.
Driving around town, I was stopped at a stoplight. In my side mirror, I could see a blue Volvo station wagon behind me, with a woman behind the wheel smiling brightly and fidgeting.
Looking in my rearview told the rest of the story. Her boyfriend was in the passenger seat, leaning in close and kissing her repeatedly on the side of her neck, petting her black hair and whispering that he loved her. I could read his lips in the mirror, he said he loved her and that she was beautiful.
I watched this exchange with an aloof detachment, thinking in a way that by watching them I was invading their privacy. But I also felt a little privileged to see it. How often do you see people have these moments, really?
The light changed, and the woman was looking back at her lover, watching my car with her peripheral vision while she kissed him. I stayed there for several long seconds while the light was green, not because I wanted to stay and watch them longer, but because I knew once I started moving then they would too. Their moment was too precious, I didn’t want to rush them.