New Shoes

G-Man walked out of his room, dressed for school wearing his new Vans and asked, “Do you like my new shoes?”

I was instantly transported to 1999 when G-Man was three years old. We were in the waiting room at the children’s hospital. That was the day he was to be evaluated by a speech therapist for his speech delay due to chronic ear infections his first year of life.

G-Man was wearing his brand new, navy blue, Stride-Rite, canvas sneakers and he was very proud of them. When the speech therapist came out to greet us, G-Man pointed to his feet and said, “New shoes.” Only it sounded like “nu oooo.” He was able to pronounce vowels and only a few consonants making it very difficult to understand him. The therapist caught on because G-Man was pointing to his shoes and she looked to me for confirmation.

That was a long day. The good news was that G-Man’s permanent hearing wasn’t damage by the infections so therapy would eventually completely correct his speech delay. His listening comprehension maxed out the test at age five. But his speech barely even registered that of a one year old.

Far and away the highlight of the day was when the therapist asked G-Man to touch his tongue to his nose. He succeeded to do it making the therapist exclaim with surprise. Later I explained that it was a family trait that he inherited from a great, great aunt.

Two years of speech therapy with the wonderful Miss Tina brought G-Man up to speed in time to start kindergarten. Listening to him talk now you would never know that he ever had a speech delay. I forget it myself. But the other morning, the simple words new shoes reminded me of all of G-Man’s hard work so many years ago. Those simple words brought tears to my eyes and a smile to my face.