Hi, My Name Is..

Jenny and I am a Parrothead.

Ok, I know that sounds strange coming from someone that can't hear, but I do like music and up until now, I used to make fun of those so-called Parrotheads, the Jimmy Buffet music lovers. How silly, I thought they were, to dress up in tropical shirts and put fake parrots on their shoulders and drink margaritas and sing along to the music. I've even seen cars covered with "Margaritaville" bumper stickers as they proudly proclaimed their adoration for Jimmy Buffet. I would scoff and shake my heads at them.

Being Deaf, you wouldn't think that deaf people listened to music, while in fact, I know a lot of deaf people that like music. They usually go for bass-heavy stuff, where they can really hear the beat and feel the vibrations and crank the volume up. Today, I don't hear like I used to and once I take off my hearing aid, my world goes silent. In the car, I tune the radio to oldies stations because they play stuff I can recognize. I don't listen to any of the stations that play newer music because it all sounds like gibberish to me. With the older music stations, I'll recognize the distinctive beat to "Wild Thing" and start rocking out! Or something by the Beatles or Elvis will come on and I can sing along to the songs I am familiar with. Most of the time though, I recognize the music, but I have no idea who sings it or what the title of the song is, I just remember listening to it when I was younger and liking it. I can't hear the Dj announce the name of the artist or the title, so I go along listening to unknown songs. If Hubby is in the car with me, I'll ask, "Who sings that?" and I'll finally learn the identity of the song.

The other day, Hubby and I were hard at work, taking pictures of things to put up on eBay. He had the radio on and the stations he likes are classic rock or heavy metal. Don't get me started on heavy metal music-- with all the screaming and screeching guitar playing, I can't understand why it is called music, but obviously there is something I am not hearing to make it appeal to so many people. Anyway, a song came on that wound it's way around my head and smacked me awake and I instantly recognized it as a song I liked, but didn't know who sang it.

"Honey! Who sings this?!" I hollered at Hubby from across the room.

"It's "Margaritaville" by Jimmy Buffet." he answered.

My mouth dropped. "No it isn't!" I said in disbelief.

"Yes, it is." Then he started singing the words and I could tell the words coming out of his mouth matched the sounds I was hearing. My heart dropped! I like Jimmy Buffet?! I had ALWAYS liked that particular song, but never knew who sang it, and now I wondered what other Jimmy Buffet songs I liked but didn't realize it? Then I thought to myself, well if the rest of his music sounds like "Margaritaville", then I can see why he has so many fans!

So now I admit to you: Hi, my name is Jenny and I am a Parrothead.