The Weight of the Ordinary

An episode of the Seattle podcast 'Deep Currents' hosted by Ben, featuring special guests Hannah and Nicole.

The Weight of the Ordinary

True or false?

Hannah spent a year stationed at a research facility in Antarctica.

• True
• False

Nicole had been blind for just two years before her surgery.

• True
• False

Both Hannah and Nicole missed the modern architecture most of all.

• True
• False

Nicole regained her sight after a medical procedure in Boston.

• True
• False

Both guests independently named the smell of rain as their most missed sensation.

• True
• False

Listen again and complete the sentences

• Hannah: Thanks, Ben. Well, when you're down on the ice, you find it hard to remember what a gentle breeze feels like. We had ____ , sure—electricity, canned food, a roof over our heads—but you become utterly oblivious to the subtle textures of the biosphere. You're so busy surviving the blizzards that you forget what soft, damp earth smells like.
• Nicole: And Hannah, that's fascinating, because I spent twenty years in total darkness, and I consider it essential to ____ by how fleeting our appreciation is. When my sight returned last autumn after surgery at Boston General, I didn't expect the overwhelming visual noise. But beneath all that, I was hunting for one specific sensation that I'd lost and regained.
• Nicole: Unbelievable! Exactly that. When I walked out of the clinic in Cambridge after my bandages came off, the very first storm broke, and that familiar earthy aroma hit me. I stood there crying, completely overwhelmed by an ____ that most people take for granted every single day without even blinking.
• Ben: Well, listeners, if that doesn't ____ , I don't know what will. Two completely different worlds, yet both guests found themselves yearning for the exact same fleeting scent of rain. We'll be right back after this short break from our sponsors at Apex Logistics.

Sources: photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels