Wayne Bonaime – A story of hearing found

The following is a thoughtful, heartfelt message I recently received from renewing ALOHA
member Wayne Bonaime.

Terri Rice
ALOHA Office Manager

I am not sure where or when I heard this statement, but it made enough sense for me to remember it and apply it to my personal life code for 30 years & counting. The advice holds true with my ALOHA experience. “Surround yourself with good people and good things will happen.” ALOHA is a very special place run by genuine good people. Any time I spend or anything I do with the ALOHA Center has resulted in great things happening! I only hope to pay it forward.

I am only a 2-year member, but was blessed with a realization during my first visit 10 years ago. I had stopped in to discuss my hearing challenges that I thought came on gradually, but instead came to the realization that my hearing loss went back to childhood. The woman I met at the desk first shared her story of hearing loss dating back to events in elementary school. We could not have talked for 5-10 minutes at the most and I immediately associated her story with my own life events. I recalled, for example, that I never really heard the recess bell in grade school. I would just follow everyone in. Songs on the radio never made sense. Steve Miller, after all, was not singing “shoot the children with no shoes on their feet.” All those years went by where I did NOT understand those lyrics! Wow! I endured so many years of thinking I was slow because I got confused with directions that everyone else said were easy. I laughed at jokes that I didn’t have a clue about, hoping no one would notice. After being able to hear, so many parts of my life suddenly made more sense. My only regret is that I didn’t join ALOHA sooner.

Thank You!
Wayne Bonaime
Proud ALOHA Member