The Sounds Of Our Life

One of the millions of things that have stuck with me since the unexpected passing of my father-in-law earlier this year, was the statements my sisters-in-law made about the absence of certain sounds from his house. The way he cleared his throat could be heard echoing through the whole house. The way he brewed coffee in the morning.

For some reason, this has been resonating with me and in my day-to-day life I seem to be preoccupied with focusing on the noises I hear everywhere. For example, when I spent the day at my own parents' house last week I started to listen to the sounds my father made from across the house or the way their dishwasher has always sounded, even when I was a child.

In my house, as I sit here right now, I can hear my baby (who is not really a baby anymore at nearly 2 years old) saying 'All Done' and the sound of cleaning fluid being sprayed on the counter (thank you honey!) in the kitchen. I was awoken this morning by the sound of the cat meowing for food before any of us had gotten up.

I don't include sound in my writing all that often. Smell, taste, touch--yes. But sound, not as much and it is a pivotal sense. Usually, if its important that a character hear something, I write it in. Otherwise, I haven't spent that much time thinking about it.

From now on, there will be sound in my books as this writer has discovered how much she counts on hearing certain things every day.

How about all of you? What do you hear?