GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 30

Hear and now By LiLy Dawn RoBeRtson A family challenged by deafness Good communications: grandfather Allan Robertson with grandson brendan and granddaughter brittany I met my husbAnd, Allan, 15 years ago. We dated for a few months, but it wasn’t until I saw him with his 4-year-old grandson, Brandon, that I fell helplessly in love. Brandon had been deaf since he was 2 from complications of meningitis. When I came on the scene, his family was learning how to communicate with him. But when I saw Allan crouch down to Brandon at eye level and, with patience and love, gesture and point… well, as Renée Zellweger says (sort of ) to Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire, “You had me at the crouch.” Then, about 10 years after we married, Allan’s own loss of hearing became apparent. (More than a third of all hearing loss is attributed to noise: loud music, working conditions, home tools and recreational equipment—and baby boomers like Allan grew up with all of the above . ) He began to complain that Brandon’s little sister, Brittany, was impatient and mumbling on the phone. I noticed when we visited our grandkids in their home, Allan spent more time watching TV than joining in the fun. Brittany said that when she talked to him in the car, he would sometimes reach over and turn on the radio. She thought he was angry with her or in a bad mood. Both grandchildren had begun to use me as an intermediary between Allan and them. Was “Papa” grumpy, bored—or maybe he didn’t like being around them anymore? None of these reasons was true—but Allan did become stressed easily when the children were around, and it became all he could do to stick around during their birthday parties and other special events. 30 GRAND JULY 2009

GRAND Magazine - July 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of GRAND Magazine - July 2009

GRAND Magazine - July 2009
GRAND View
Contents
GRAND Central
Grands Across the Sea
O, Say, Can You Sing?
Hear and Now
Ask GRAND
GRAND’s 2009 Sexiest Granddads
Nailing It
Reader's Write
Resources
GRAND Finale
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - intro
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - GRAND Magazine - July 2009
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - Cover2
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 3
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - Contents
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 5
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 6
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 7
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 8
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 9
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 10
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 11
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 12
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - GRAND Central
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 14
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 15
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 16
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 17
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 18
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 19
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 20
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 21
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - Grands Across the Sea
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 23
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 24
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 25
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 26
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 27
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - O, Say, Can You Sing?
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 29
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - Hear and Now
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 31
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - Ask GRAND
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 33
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - GRAND’s 2009 Sexiest Granddads
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 35
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 36
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 37
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 38
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 39
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 40
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 41
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - Nailing It
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 43
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 44
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 45
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - Reader's Write
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 47
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 48
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 49
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 50
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 51
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 52
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - Resources
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - GRAND Finale
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - 55
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - Cover3
GRAND Magazine - July 2009 - Cover4
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