Thank You Friend

Over the past several years as I've battled in and out of hearing loss I've started learning a bit of sign language here and there. I've taken a couple of classes, watched tutorials and even bought a book or two on how to sign. But I've never stuck with it because, well honestly I've never needed to. While my hearing has been bad in the past, usually within days it comes right back up to a functioning level again. But lately, over the past several months I go much longer without being able to hear and the hearing loss attacks happen much more often than they used to. Honestly, over the past 6 months to a year I'd say I could say that there is a decent chance that I've had more bad hearing days than good, making me wonder, "Do I need to learn sign language?".

I talked to my hubby about it and he agreed that it might be good for both of us to learn how to sign for my bad days. So we started searching for classes and books and tutorials online. We even asked around for help and my dear friend Bailey came to our rescue. She quickly set up a dinner meeting to get us in touch with a couple of gals who know sign language. We met last night and it was a great evening full of support and generosity from people I just met, willing to help me in any way that they could. We talked about different options including hearing aids (which I've tried twice without luck), cochlear implants (which aren't an option right now) and of course learning sign language. We decided that at this point in time that Jeff and I just need to learn the basics to get us through the bad days, or weeks of hearing loss. We don't need to worry about proper grammar and all the rules that go along with signing. We just need a way for us to communicate without me being totally lost in the conversation and Jeff having a massive headache from talking so loud. So the plan is to take a free local sign language class that was suggested to us last night, and to continue teaching ourselves through videos and books. At this point we don't need to know a lot but it will be helpful to know the basics for now. Eventually I would LOVE to learn more so I can teach art classes to kids who are hearing impaired. Who knows.... maybe it will happen some day.




A BIG thank you to my friend Bailey for setting up our meeting and for just taking such good care of me. She is such a great friend. And of course thank you so much to Nancy and Sarah for meeting with me and for all your suggestions and support. I'm truly grateful for their kindness.

Much Love,
Shanon