…But something inside me knew it was time to get serious about my communication needs.
…As I began to learn sign language, my self-confidence and social life began to improve…
Learning sign language helped me see a light at the end of the tunnel. It made all the difference!
I continued to wonder in the months ahead if my hearing would ever return… Many tears followed that first year after losing my hearing, and I wrapped myself in my own arms often as I grieved.
…One path was clearly the more commonly traveled one, while the other “less traveled” path was unfamiliar and perhaps more difficult. Yet, in choosing the road less traveled, the poet looks back and knows he had made the right decision, as his journey has been a more personally satisfying one….
I began to feel something awaken in me, another moment of truth….
….perhaps I did have a choice about how I traveled this path. I could journey with courage or with fear….
…WHY, MAMA?! WHY DID THIS HAPPEN?! WHY DO I HAVE TO HAVE THIS STUPID HEARING LOSS?! WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS?!…WHY MEEEE?! …WHYYYY?!” I sobbed in protest…
Mama stayed with me as I wrestled with my demons. Steadfast, she listened to me as I cast the torment from my heart. She was the anchor that stayed me while I rocked with the stormy waves of my own rage on my water bed. She was my lighthouse, my buoy and bell, steering me clear and away from the jagged rocks.
And I saw God’s light in her face….
…and I remembered from whence I came.
