Unsung Heroes (Lyndi Hofstra)

There are many unsung heroes in the world. Sometimes an ordinary person does and extraordinary thing and we hear about them on the news or read about them in the newspaper. Usually this act of bravery has to do with a particular moment in time, rescuing someone from a burning car, pulling a drowning child out of a lake, or taking the time to return a lost dog to the owner. In our profession, my husband and I work with unsung heroes every day. There are lots of them and their powers to endure and continue to live life to their fullest capabilities make them unsung heroes in their Autumn years. Our clients continue to amaze us with their stories of the unshakeable resolve to simply stay in the “game of life.” They haven’t given up. They come to us because they want to hear- again.

My husband and I opened Hofstra Family Hearing Center in Palos Heights Il in November 2005. We held an open house a year later and at the end of the week we went out to eat, celebrating our first year in business. During the dinner, we toasted to us, our hard work, and gave thanks to God for our new business and for our clients. As one does at a watermark we started to talk about the people we have served and quickly observed that older people who want to hear again also want to continue to participate as fully as possible in “the game of life.” The stories our clients have shared with us, some in detail, some just glimpses of their world, have shown us that many of these ordinary people have had extraordinary experiences.

From our oldest client, at 97 to our mean age of 70, these people actively participate in life, amidst many physical difficulties. They deliver communion to shut ins, manage their own stock portfolios, carve life size statues of religious futures, care for their infirmed spouses, knit afghans for the veterans, make and sell magnetic jewelry, and diligently work with their hearing aids despite complications with arthritic hands, numb fingers, and failing eyesight.. The losses they have survived, some may say, are to be expected due their advanced years, yet I will tell you, no one, regardless of their age, ever gets over the loss of their daughter to cancer, or the car accident that took their son’s life, or the anguish of waking up alone in bed after celebrating fifty eight years of marriage together.
These brave diligent people are unsung heroes who have NOT given up on life, themselves, or their hearing! .Their determination, sense of humor, and desire to fully participate in life through better hearing has brought to our attention a different picture of the senior citizen. Far from retiring to a sedentary life our clients continue to engage in the “game of life”. We, at Hofstra Family Hearing Center, are honored to serve them.