The sound of children

Sometimes the chaos at our house is overwhelming. At times it is happy chaos - singing, laughter, and conversation. Other times it is whining, or loud shrieks that indicate parental intervention is needed...quickly. The latter I can do without.  But this evening I stumbled upon a short Q&A article with actress Marlee Matlin who is hearing-impaired. One of her comments gave me some much-needed perspective:
Q: Four kids can be noisy. How much can you hear?
A: I do hear a great deal of it because I use a hearing aid to assist the residual hearing I do have. Any sound my children make is a gift.

Did you catch that? If I lost my hearing tomorrow, I know that I would give my left arm to be able to hear the sounds of Samantha's and Megan's voices. Even the whining and shrieks would be welcome. One day too soon they will grow up and the sounds of their voices will leave our home. Perhaps tomorrow, instead of being overwhelming, the chaos will remind me that they are alive and healthy and energetic, and that we are blessed to be able to enjoy them while they are still young.