This Last Week Was Awesome! (an update)

I miss my kids.  Not much else to say about that.

This last week was awesome!  A report.

It's a Sign

Last Sunday, right as I was walking out the door for church, Rob called.  He said, "There's a man here who just moved into our ward.  He's deaf.  Could you ..." and before he could say anything else, I said, "... interpret for him?  Today?  No."  Rob said, "No, not interpret.  Just talk to him."  Oh.  Sure.  I can talk to him.

I've interpreted before.  After taking only 1 year of ASL in college, I had a crash course summer in interpreting.  A man showed up to the CA Singles' Ward I attended, and guess who was the only person who knew any sign at all?  Me.  So I "interpreted."  That's sort of a joke.  For the first few weeks, we just chatted, because I couldn't interpret anything.  But, by the end of the summer, I was markedly better.  It was a great experience.  But that was 11 years ago.

Fortunately, there's another guy in our ward now who actually interprets for church events.  Unfortunately, he's not usually at church these days cause he's really busy.  So guess who interpreted this Sunday?  Me.  (My new line is, "You know what they say:  In the world of the blind, the one-eyed man is interpreter.")  The talks were impossible, though, and I said, "I don't know how to sign that" a lot.  The last talk was about the Constitution and freedom of religion.  They (the man and his wife, both deaf) taught me the signs for "Constitution" (they weren't sure, either), and "religion", but when the speaker said, "establishment clause," I knew we were toast.  I think I was able to convey the idea that it's good to teach your children the Constitution so that then they can distinguish between good laws and bad laws.

God is good.  Church is great.  Rah rah.

Devin and Jamay are really great, though.  Super patient.  I think they just appreciate the effort.  And I'll get better.  I LOVE ASL.  I've loved it from the first minute of my first class.  ...  Did you know you can go to school and take ONLY ASL-centered classes?  Woah, man.  Sign me up!  Cincinnati State, you are now on my radar.

If you now hear me talk about ASL a lot, or if I start signing while speaking, or randomly start reciting colors or numbers or days of the week, you'll know why.

Teeth and Drugs

The dentist I go to is a dentist who caters to scared people.  They offer you laughing gas for cleanings, for heaven's sake!  I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm terrified of the dentist.  I don't need laughing gas for cleanings, but when there's a high-pitched drill involved, hook me up.

On Wednesday I went in for 3 hours and $600 of dental work.  I was ... super happy about it.  I didn't eat breakfast, because I knew there was a high likelihood that the food wouldn't stay down anyway.  On the way there, I was hoping the building had been blown up overnight.  I took deep breaths and was trying to find my happy place.  When they sat me in the chair, they asked how I was doing.  I think this is a joke that dental assistants like.  I wanted to reply to this "funny" joke that I wished all dentists would go to Hell where they belong, but instead I laughed and said, "I'm doing great."  I looked out the window at the trees and tried, successfully, to not cry.

And then they gave me laughing gas and told me to relax.  Relaxing didn't seem possible.  At the dentist you don't RELAX.  Ever.  ...  And then the laughing gas hit me.  ...  Laughing gas is magic.

It gave me bad dreams, if dreams are what they're called.  I was in and out of it, and had a hard time distinguishing between my sensory inputs and my thoughts.  When I closed my eyes, they all melded together in a weird way that I didn't like.  BUT, I didn't curl my toes or clinch my fists even once at the sound of the drill, and that, my friends, is a miracle.

Thursday

July 8th happens to be my dad's birthday.  Happy b-day dad.  This year it also happened to be the day my house got up to 93 degrees.  I've become used to 88 degrees.  90 degrees isn't even so bad.  But 93 is hot.  Period.  Thankfully, just as I was thinking that Hell is Ohio in July without the AC (dentists, prep yourselves), a storm rolled in and my house dropped 5 degrees in half an hour.  Thank you, thank you, rain storm.

Also significant about Thursday:  Tank went away.  Rob and I spent this last weekend at Mammoth Cave by ourselves, so Tank needed a babysitter.  Rob's sister, Chiara, came down and picked him up.  We ate lunch here (before it got to 93 degrees inside the house) and then Tank was hauled away.  ...  And I was all alone wondering what in the heck I should do with my time.  ...  You know, when the kids are around, I can think of a TON of things to do if they weren't crawling all over me.  But then, when they're gone, I just want them to come back.

I did do a few significant things without my kids around:
1 - I read a book, uninterrupted.
2 - I only got out my own plate for dinner.
3 - I didn't once, all day, listen to someone whine at me.

Weird, right?

And then our Mammoth Cave adventure started, and that's a different post.