March 1 – “It’s in my ear”

I experienced an interesting sensation last night as I was watching Cailyn play softball.  Oh, and what a game it was, too.  They were playing against an undefeated team that was obviously pretty good (hence the undefeated status).  But Cailyn’s team just couldn’t be stopped at the plate.  I think they scored the maximum number of runs allowed in every single inning they batted.  And the held their opponents in the field at least twice.  Cailyn had three hits and made several really good plays at third base.  She even won the player of the game award from her coaches.  There were some tense moments.  One of the coaches from the other team was even ejected from the game after arguing a call.  Eight and nine year old girls, people.  Ease up on the tension. 

Oh, but the weird thing that happened.  My ear, already stuffed with my hearing aid, started itching like crazy on the inside, like something was crawling around inside there.  I envisioned all sorts of horror stories like the ones Chris has told me about when she was a pediatric nurse.  Live roaches growing and thriving in a kid’s ear.  I knew I hadn’t stuffed anything bigger than my elbow in there of late, so I should be good there.  But I did mow the grass the other day.  What sort of airborne fungus or worse yet, tiny creature could be taking up residence in my head? And the Galveston Gulf of Mexico breeze was of course blowing unrelentingly.  Was it sand mites clawing their way behind my hearing aid blockade?  On several occasions I popped out the hearing aid and crammed my pinky finger in there to get my scratching on, but that never really works, does it?  Come on, don’t tell me you haven’t tried that a time or two.  I finally just toughed it out until we got home and I could cram something in there that could really do the job … a Q-tip.  But shhhh.  Don’t tell my doctor.  I hear they have banned those from entering the ear as well.  Hey, Q-tips are way better than what they used in decades past.  How about bobby pins?  They were good while they lasted.  Had that built-in hook at the end for grabbing excess wax.  I guess they worked way too well.  They were built too much like the tool the doc uses.  Can’t have that.  Gotta keep him in business, right?  I guess the Q-tip did its job.  There was no gunk in there, unless of course I just crammed it closer and closer to my ear drum.  That’s always the horror story I hear.  And the itching seemed to have subsided enough that it did not keep me awake.  There’s still just a hint of it there this morning, but I’ll take that as a win. 

Psalms 34:19 says, “A righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all.”

Father, thank you for easing up the ear itch so I could get some sleep.  And thank you for the bevy of excited girls on both teams last night after the game.  They were all talking and laughing … together.  Great lesson.  Amen.