Happy Sounds

            Recently a group of my friends had a big F-bomb dropped on them for celebrating and laughing too loudly after an early morning run.  They felt bad and apologized to the sleepy resident with a pound of coffee and a note.  While I wasn’t present at the “incident”, I was there when the F-bomber approached the Too-loud-laughers on another run and apologized for her foul language.  By the end of the friendly conversation everyone felt better.  After all, we all want a little respect, but we humans make mistakes from time to time.

            This whole thing reminded me of a lesson from my mother:  When something, particularly noise, annoys you, think about where it’s coming from and in most cases you will realize that it is a happy sound.   When I was itty-bitty we lived in a house with a view of the bay, but it was very near a busy street.  Mom told us, “Just think of the swoosh of the passing cars as waves crashing on the shore.”  I stopped hearing the sound of traffic and focused instead on the beautiful view.  During my whole life, and likely his, my father has whistled a tune that would send my eardrums into a violent spasm (maybe a slight overstatement).  When I complained or asked him to PLEASE STOP, Mom reminded me that he whistles when he is happy.  “Think of it as a happy sound,” she would say.  That thought makes the shrill ear-piercing hiss a bit more tolerable and my blood pressure drops.

            We all live in neighborhoods and are exposed to uninvited noise.  We could get angry at the neighbor for not fixing the muffler on his car, or call Animal Control every time the dog on the corner announces the arrival of…everything.  But then we’d have to annoy everyone else when the fire department and ambulance scream down our street to resuscitate us after our multiple heart attacks.  Anger and stress kill.  They eat us up from the inside out.  I choose to listen to my mommy instead.

            When a neighbor is having a gathering complete with late-night music and sudden bursts of laughter, I smile and wonder what joke was so funny.  The dog barking late into the evening?  I am reminded of the book 101 Dalmations, when dogs send their messages all over the countryside through twilight barking – the next dog a few blocks away hears the message and passes it along until the entire doggy world is united by this friendly canine goodnight.

            We had a neighbor who would play his car stereo at a gut-thumping level while washing his car.  I remember getting all huffy and ready to complain until I looked out the window and saw him dancing and fist pumping in time to the music.  I giggled and realized he’d be done in a few minutes (then I turned on my own stereo to drown him out!).

            There certainly are exceptions to this rule, like our former neighbors who con-stant-ly yelled and even swore at their young children…it is hard to put a happy face on that.  But how about our beloved neighbor, Bill, who loves to tinker with his car and other motorized gadgets?  Every once in a while he revs the engine of his vintage muscle car with a huge roar.  I laugh and can almost see the grin on his face as the hot-rod muffler successfully spews smoke.  It’s nice to know he’s out and keeping an eye on the neighborhood while he plays with his toys.  The hum of his delightful daughter zooming up and down the street on her mini-mini bike represents pure joy, as you can see by her blue eyes twinkling from under the helmet.

            I have been woken by the screeching sound of raccoons mating in the trees outside our window.  Although the sound is terrifying, I’m pretty sure that can be considered a happy sound.  Each morning in the months of May and June, starting around 4 a.m., we are treated to the incessant squawking of baby birds in the under-eave nests of the house next door.  When the adult bird arrives with a freshly caught worm, the decibel level rivals that of a rock concert.  I just roll over and dream of fat and happy birdlings, cozy in their scratchy, grassy nests.

 I’m sure there are sounds that are difficult to ignore or put a shiny face on.  If there is an unavoidable bang or creak that makes your blood boil, if early morning laughter really gets your goat, I guess you could go and buy a white noise machine to drown it out?  I don’t think it’s worth the stress and unhappiness that comes with trying to control something you’ll never control. So take this lesson from my mother, most sounds are happy sounds.  Besides, I prefer my beer glass half full…don’t you?

(P.S.  If you don't like to hear children screaming and playing, don't live next to a school.  If you dislike the roar of motorboats, don't live on the lake.  If you don't like early morning runners and mountain bikers, don't live near a trailhead.  Just sayin'...)