Growing Ears to Hear

So I've decided to start personally blogging in this space now that my counterpart on No Longer Mute has officially moved within a half a mile from our new apartment. You can read about my reasons for bidding adieu to that blog here. I've actually taken quite a long sabbatical from communicating via blogosphere and it was a much needed break, but this morning I have enough angst to awaken my rusty fingers and motivate them to work their magic.

Brian and I just returned from a wonderful vacation in California with my father and step-mother. My sister and brother-in-law joined us for a good portion of the trip as well. We were sad to leave, but are currently looking forward to our anticipated visit from Bri's family in the coming days!

So back to my morning angst. Upon our return we discovered a bill from my dentist as we collected our mail last night. We were being charged from a visit that wasn't really a visit at all because when I arrived at the office all they did was inform me that they had schedule me with the wrong doctor, looked in my mouth for (count-it) 1-2-3 seconds and then had me reschedule my appointment (for a third time, I should add). Beyond this ridiculous co-pay they also tacked on a late fee because they didn't actually collect a co-pay while I was at the office. Ridiculous (yes, I just said that again).

Not an uncommon ordeal. Nor is it an ordeal of any great significance. But an ordeal none-the-less. Brian attempted to call the corporate office to get this situation worked out and it became a mess of miscommunication and there was no real resolution except that at the end of the phone call they at least removed the late fee. My feathers are still all ruffled now about 20 minutes and a full cup of coffee later and I'm trying to make sense of this noticeable energy surging through both my mind and body. I could careless about the $15 copay...seriously. But what is left making my stomach churn my coffee with soy vanilla creamer round and round is the evidence of how difficult communication really is. Human beings seem fairly intent on self-protection (a.k.a. covering our asses) and often this fixation is to our own detriment. Instead of simply listening to one another, we are working so hard to build up our wall of defense and in the process we ALL become UNTOUCHABLE. And we wonder why we're all filling our lives with distractions from our own loneliness 24/7!

I'm just as guilty as the next gal at hiding behind the wall. Heck I've personally build one as high as the Eiffel Tower. But I'm working at dismantling the wall brick-by-brick and am hoping others are inspired to do so as well.