All on Equal Grounds

I received a wonderfully insightful comment from  nancyaruegg.com  at “From the Inside Out”that I would like to share:

“Your attitude about your life-calling is an inspiration in itself.  You don’t consider yourself a martyr.  Instead, you see your background as preparation for what God has called you to do, and you take pleasure in the fulfillment it provides.  No accolades necessary.  My takeaway:  Each of us has been formed and prepared by God for a unique purpose.  We can each embrace our own.  Thank you for your inspiration!”

To which I responded:

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!  You have great insight into the way I feel.  I really love raising my kiddos, and I think I am pretty good at it.  However, I am no more remarkable at it than the friendly waitress who served us, carrying that huge tray of food without spilling a drop, pre-eminently bringing us extra napkins and salad dressing on the side, pleasantly refilling my glass of Diet Coke ten times, and splitting our dessert on two different plates each filled with its own whipped cream.  

No more remarkable than the teachers who teach my children with great compassion and understanding, imparting educational wisdom on them even though I can’t get them to make their beds.     

No more remarkable than the truck driver who hauls the oranges up here from Florida, going for days without seeing his family, stopping to take cat naps at the rest stops; I would have gone bonkers with loneliness after the first half hour, would have had to stop every 50 miles to pee, and would have fallen asleep at the wheel after three hours.

No more remarkable than the individual with a developmental disability who works as a bagger at the grocery store, who carefully puts the heavy items on the bottom of the bag where I would have thrown the cans of tomatoes right on top of the bread and the carton of eggs in upside down.  

No more remarkable than the dental hygienist who cleans my teeth while I whine like a baby, offering calming words and a smile I can see by the crinkling of her eyes, because her mouth is covered in a mask, (or is she really laughing at me?)

No more remarkable than the computer designer who works magic in the computer world, enabling me to play games, use e-mail, research projects, make the print larger, (for my older eyes which refuse to accept glasses,) and BLOG!

No more remarkable than the pastor who preaches, imparting words of wisdom and hope to his congregation, of which I am a humble part.

No more remarkable than the bus driver for public transportation, who cheerfully stops to pick up strangers, dropping them safely at their destinations, (when I would have surely clipped a few mailboxes, and maybe a few pedestrians, and I sure would have shut the automatic door too quickly on someone’s butt.)

Yes, the waitress, the teacher, the truck driver, the grocery bagger, the dental hygienist, the computer designer, the pastor, the bus driver and any other profession where you know someone loves his/her job, we all have one thing in common; we are good at our chosen jobs. No accolades necessary, success is the feeling of a job well done.  

This is the life we choose to lead, all on equal grounds.   

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Link to my book
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-apple-tree/id538572206?mt=11

The Apple Tree: Raising 5 Kids With Disabilities and Remaining Sane

Link to the Readers Digest review of my book:  http://www.rd.com/recommends/what-to-read-after-a-hurricane/

 

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Top 10 Good/Bad Things about Having a Child who is Deaf

The 10 most Negative Things about

Having a Child who is Deaf

1. She leaves the water and/or her electric toothbrush running in the bathroom after brushing her teeth because she can’t hear it to shut it off. ( In the morning, before her “meds” for ADHD have kicked in, she is wild and not paying attention to much.
2. She cannot hear the cars crossing the street, and she can generally be good about this, but has a problem, again, until  her meds have kicked in, enabling her to pay attention better.
3. She cannot hear when another family member is knocking on the bathroom door as they need to use the bathroom, (and she is just “primping”.)
4. If she is outside playing, she cannot hear me call her in for dinner.
5. During dinner, everyone signs in order to include her, therefore it takes a lot longer to eat dinner, (and our food gets cold!)
6. She cannot hear the beautiful music in church.
7. You cannot yell at a child who is deaf.  If they don’t want to listen, they just shut their eyes.
8. She answers the phone as it has a flashing light, but she cannot hear on it and she just yells my name until I come answer it.  (Sometimes it takes me a while if I am in the bathroom, so she keeps screaming “Mom!  Mom!” at the top of her lungs until I come to get the phone, (only to find out it was a telemarketer!)
9. We have closed captioning on all of our tvs, and often the captions block a major view of what is on television, such as when the captioning is at the top and it blocks people’s faces.)
10. She tries to “talk” to me when I am driving. I don’t want to ignore her, but it is awfully difficult to drive and look sideways to see what she is saying, and even more difficult to sign back while trying to maintain control of the steering wheel.  I think more accidents may be caused by people conversing in sign language while driving a car than by using a cell phone!

The 10 Most Positive Things about

Having a Child who is Deaf

1. Our whole family has learned a “second language”, American Sign Language.   We often use it in the community to interact with people who are deaf, and we feel excited that we can “talk” to them!
2. My teenage sons can talk badly about her, as older teenage brothers tend to do, and she cannot hear them so her feelings don’t get hurt.
3. Her bedroom is right next to my husband’s and mine so she cannot hear if we are having a “romantic evening for two.”
4. She cannot hear if my husband and I are arguing in another room, an experience that my other children cannot escape.
5. I can play whatever music I want on my car stereo and she won’t complain as my other children do.
6. When I have friends over, we can have very personal conversations with her sitting nearby watching tv and not being able to hear all of the sordid details.
7. With the new phones, she is able to text everyone instead of talking on the phone.  I am somewhat be old and crabby, and I’d much rather text someone than talk to them personally on the phone.  (This comes from the overload of talking on the telephone at my work.)
8. She does not get frightened during storms because she cannot hear the pounding rain, wind or thunder.
9. When traveling, she cannot go through the airport metal detector, (due to her cochlear implant.)  She is taken aside and searched with the wand as she puts her arms and legs out.   She giggles the whole time, saying that I what the police do with people on tv.  She feels special!
10. Most of the major theme parks will provide an American Sign Language Interpreter/Guide for the day.  She is not so fussy about the interpreter, but she is thrilled that they get to bypass the long lines of people waiting to go on the rides by going through a “secret” back door.  (We are thrilled also because we get to join her!)