Photo by: “Lyndon”

Inspired by Carl Schroeder’s recent “Dragon Story” of children as “plants” that start from strong “roots,” I decided to post this blog and vlog to share an opportunity I recently had to give my son both “roots and wings.” Below the vlog is the story of this special Spring day — A day in the life of a deaf mom and her KODA son — filmed by my hearing husband.

Photo by: Andrew Magill

My family loves screens. Sigh… We have entirely too many in our home — large, medium and small. HD TV’s, computer screens, laptops, videophones, Gameboy consoles and hand-held electronic games and devices of every kind with screens as small as the palm of your hand. Alas, we live in a deaf-accessible home near the Silicon Valley where a high tech lifestyle today is second nature. However, when we notice we’re spending too much time at our individual screens and not enough time with each other, or when we feel we are starting to glow, it’s time to get unplugged!

Photo by: Mariusz Jurgielewicz

To disconnect from the computers and TV’s that were keeping us hunched over, and to celebrate the first days of Spring, my husband, son and I decided to go for a family excursion where we could take a good, long-overdue nature walk. We packed up a picnic lunch and drove south through the rolling-green foothills along the San Andreas Fault line toward Pinnacles National Monument.

The Pinnacles are massive monoliths with sheer-walled canyons and boulder-covered caves. We discovered a wonderful, breezy bat cave there complete with waterfalls and skylights, that was open to the public. We had a wonderful family adventure there. If you’re in the area, I highly recommend you visit. (It is also a mountain-climber’s haven.)

On the way to the Pinnacles, while driving along Highway 25, south of Hollister, we came upon a tiny town with a Catholic church at the very end. As we passed it by, I noticed there seemed to be a lot of outdoor sculptures displayed, and just out of curiosity, I asked my husband to turn around so we could take a look.

We discovered a little gem called the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. Outside were statues and monuments of all kinds. There was:

• A sculpture of Christ with an angel in a grove of olive trees, marked “Gesethamane”, depicting ‘the agony in the garden’
• A dirt road lined with the stations of the cross marked as “Golgotha”
• A replica of the famous “Pieta`” by Michelangelo, showing the Virgin Mary holding her son Jesus’s body after he was taken down from the cross
• The “Immaculate Conception” — a vision of the Virgin Mary by a shepherd girl — St. Bernadette — from the town of Lourdes, France
• “Our Lady of Fatima” — a title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary who appeared to three shepherd children at Fátima, Portugal
• A 3-part stone cove showing the Nativity scenes

… and more!

Photo by: “Kathryn”

When we finished looking at the statues and explaining to our son the meaning behind the stories they represented, we made our way inside the little church. Ohhhh…. it brought back such sweet memories for me! It was as if I had stepped back in time and entered the church of my youth… In the vlog above, I shared memories of being chosen to carry the chalice of wine up to the altar during the Offertory of Gifts on the day of my First Holy Communion in second grade. I remembered the choir singing in the loft in the back of the church… It was very special.

Just as my mother had done for me, I reminded my son to genuflect or bow when passing in front of the altar and sacristy… I told him the names of the statues in the church, and pointed out that they were not idols to be worshiped, but reminders of humble people, saints, beautiful spirits, who walked a the divine path of Love — Love of God and Love of others. They were symbols to help guide our spirits and lives closer to God’s Love. This was the teachings of my Catholic grandparents, my mother, my aunts, uncles and cousins.

Having lost my hearing at the age of 17, I do not have the honor of calling myself “Culturally Deaf.” However, I do have the honor of calling myself “Culturally Catholic” (even if I’m not the best practicing Catholic anymore). Being a fair-haired, fair-skinned woman who follows my father’s European looks, not many would guess that I was born into a large, Portuguese clan where my mother is as dark as I am fair, where my grandmother still speaks fluent Portuguese, and where Catholicism is the root of my family heritage.

Photo by: “Premasagar”

It is as important to me to pass on to my son the Portuguese, Catholic culture and heritage of my large family as it would be for a Culturally Deaf parent to pass on their Deaf history, language, traditions, and beliefs to their children and grandchildren. Regardless of what language my KODA son (Kid Of Deaf Adult) uses or what faith he ultimately chooses, his family heritage and culture, and his mom’s deafness and use of sign language are parts of what makes him who he is. It’s my gift as a parent to be the mirror and reflect that for him just as my family did for me. “Son, this is where you come from… This is a part of who you are…” This is what it means to give your child “roots and wings.”

Photo by: “Louise”

By the end of our unexpected stop at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, while on that family excursion to the Pinnacles that beautiful Spring day, we were blessed with the opportunity to witness a handful of parachutists falling gracefully from the sky into a field just across the street from the little church. We stood there in awe, my husband, son and I, “drunk on sky-mindedness.”

(“drunk on sky-mindedness” is quoted from Kim Garcia’s poem entitled: Madonna Magdalene).

Posted by LaRonda on Sunday, March 25th, 2007 at 11:24 pm.