Men love their Man Cave – whether it’s in the garage, basement or a room in the house. When Mom passed away, my brother, Harvey, moved in to help care for our step-father Paul who has been deaf all his life and has macular degeneration.

To talk to Paul, who’s nearly 90, you have to sign real close to his face so he can see. Paul still cooks all of his meals but needs help with mowing the grass and driving to the bank, grocery store and the deaf club.

I’m so very grateful that my brother has taken on this task to help our step-father live his life as close to normal as possible. Paul is grateful too because otherwise he would be living in a nursing home without anyone knowing how to speak to him in sign language.

It has been somewhat challenging for two grown men to live together. They have their own ways! Know what I mean?

Their den sits right in the middle of the house, and you have to walk through it to get to the kitchen from the bedrooms. The den also contains the door to the backyard, which gets used constantly because of their little Chihuahua, Mickey.

Don’t kid yourself to think just because people are deaf that they are quiet. They are NOT. As a matter of fact, they are probably noisier because they cannot hear how loud they are! Well, Paul makes a lot of noise. My brother always has to turn up the volume on the TV to cover the banging and clanging in the kitchen and the slamming of the backdoor.

While Paul is happy to have someone in the home so he doesn’t feel so lonely, both men feel a loss of privacy. So to solve both problems of noise and privacy, my brother and I came up with a plan to convert the front room into Harvey’s Man Cave! Continue Reading