Editor,

I have lived just outside of the Sea-Tac Airport noise zone for more than 20 years. When I worked eight to 12 hours a day, the noise from the planes wasn’t so bad, if you didn’t mind turning up the TV or stopping conversations indoors, on the phone or outside when chatting over the fence with your next-door neighbor.

How could I complain? After all, I bought a house close to the airport.

A convenient and a positive selling point, but I had never lived by an airport before. Sure, it’s still convenient, but if I had the option I would gladly toss out convenience just to have some peace and quiet.

Then came the third runway.

Hadn’t we suffered enough? I was sure we voted it down … guess not.

That’s the way it was until after I retired in 2003. Just thinking of what I could do or not have to do; I could travel around the country or just stay home drinking coffee on the porch early in the mornings, listening to the birds chirping and enjoying the quiet before the rest of the world woke up.

I’m still dreaming.

As I’m writing this, I am listening to the planes, one after another, sending their noise through my home and through my mind. And I wonder why — after years of seeing doctors who didn’t have answers as to why my head feels pressurized, my ears drain fluid, the ringing in my ears continues to get louder — do I clench my teeth and still I don’t know what is wrong with me?

Julia Minugh

Des Moines