Talk A Mile In Someone Else's Shoes

Over the weekend I partially lost my voice. Tomorrow I see a kid at 8:30 a.m. who used to have vocal nodules from a combination of too much shouting and too many allergies. Since I can't do anything about the allergies, I had to work on his shouting. In fact, I did what I could prevent him from raising his voice, especially when it was on the fritz.

SIDEBAR
Out of curiosity, I went to Merriam-Webster.com to check out the etimology of "on the fritz." Its origin is unknown. More research is needed for this one.

Okay, end sidebar. So when you have a fragile voice you are supposed to drink tons of water, never whisper, and obviously avoid using and raising your voice. I now know how hard it is to do this.

So the irony isn't lost on me. Tomorrow, this eight year-old is coming for the last time because he taught himself not to shout. His voice is a little hoarse and breathy, but it sounds like his nodules are gone. Good enough for an eight year-old who doesn't sing for a living. Meanwhile, my voice is going to sound like it's coming out of my ass. Why? Because over the last 72 hours I have been talking 75% of the time (waking hours only, I hope), not drinking enough water, and have been straining my voice to speak in noisy environments. Or simply raising my voice because I'm too lazy to go into the next room to talk to my boss (we often shout at each other from office-to-office during breaks).

Bottom line is I'm learning the value of the parenting maxim that used to drive me crazy a child, that I will embrace as an adult: Do as I say, not as I do.