Feel Good: The Moth Radio Hour
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What warm, cozy theme does host Jodi Powell introduce for this episode?
This is the Moth Radio Hour. I'm your host, Jodi Powell. In this hour, we are leaning into stories that make you feel warm and cozy, that take you into moments you wouldn't mind living twice. Moments you want to slow down, that remind you, oh, this, this is what it felt like. Roll out that blanket with a cup of tea. Find that spot on the beach or near a fire. Let the smallest things be exactly as big and meaningful as they actually are. Our first story comes from Ellis Miller. Ellis told this story at a Detroit Grand Slam in 2019 where we partnered with WDET. Here's Ellis.
When I was little, I believed that babies came from God's factory in the sky, and that the day I went down the assembly line, they were missing a few parts. One of the parts I'm missing is a tiny piece of bone in my left ear, making me 50% deaf. Now, growing up, this didn't have a big impact on my life. I had to sit in the front of the class, even though I was more of a back of the class personality. I was terrible at the game telephone. And my mom would take me bird watching and I thought she had superpowers because I could barely hear the birds, let alone find them in the trees. Now, when I was 30, I started to worry about what would happen as I got older if the hearing in my right ear gradually faded.
So I did some research and I talked to my doctor and he told me about a surgery where they would implant a tiny piece of metal in my ear and restore all of my hearing. And I was so excited for the possibility to find out what I had been missing this whole time. So a month later, I had a surgery date. After the surgery, I had to wait several weeks for my ear to heal before we would even know if it was successful. So I waited, and I waited, and I went back to work, and I kept waiting. And one day, I was with a coworker, and I was walking across my office, and I got to the door. I turned the doorknob, and it creaked. I turned it again, and I heard this creaking noise. And I started turning it over and over because I didn't know that doorknobs made sounds when you turned them.
My eyes filled with tears because I had expected things to get louder, but I didn't know there were entire sounds that I had never heard before. My coworker is watching me standing there turning the doorknob. And she said what was probably a typical voice, are you okay? I didn't know what to say, I was really embarrassed and overwhelmed, so I just rushed out of there and I could hear my feet as I walked down the hallway. When I got in the car and I shut the door, I jumped because it sounded like it slammed. And the whole drive home was like being in an action movie because I could hear these traffic noises coming from every direction. When I got home, I sat in the silence of my living room and I started crying.
because everything was too loud. Over the next week, I wore an earplug to help my brain try to process all the new sounds it was hearing. Now, I tried on every single pair of shoes that I owned to hear the different sounds each one made as I clomped through the house. I apologized to my cats for telling people that they were terrible at purring. They were very good, very loud. And I'd go into my backyard, and I would hear birds, so many different kinds of bird sounds. And each time I heard one, I knew exactly what tree they were sitting in. And fortunately, this didn't last. As my ear continued to heal, the implant shifted, and the world went quiet again. I was determined to get back hearing, so I had the surgery a second time a year later and the same thing happened.
Lots of waiting, tons of new sounds, and then quiet. This time I was too heartbroken and I couldn't take that roller coaster again to try a third time if it wasn't going to work. So I forced myself to accept that this was the way it was going to be. Later that year, I got sick.
How did Ellis Miller describe gaining and losing hearing after cochlear implant surgery?
I caught a cold, and as I was sniffling and sneezing, I blew my nose and the implant shifted. And for a few hours, I had full sound again until I sneezed. And now almost every time I get sick, something like this happens.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What warm, cozy theme does host Jodi Powell introduce for this episode?
0:13–5:19
2
How did Ellis Miller describe gaining and losing hearing after cochlear implant surgery?
5:19–15:04
3
What everyday sounds overwhelmed Ellis when their hearing returned briefly?
15:04–44:48
4
How did Cormac Stevens fall in love with baking and pursue it professionally?
44:48–50:38