Lake Powell

I recently came back from a wonderful trip to Lake Powell.  Did I let my deafness limit me on this trip?  Of course not! I was able to do all of the stuff a hearing person would be able to do.  I went boating, I did all of the water sports, and I went cliff jumping.  When I am tubing, I do get worried about hitting my head on someone else's head.  So as a precaution I sit on the far right, so that no one is on my right side.  That way the side that has my implant doesn't hit anyone's head.  I've never had a problem, but I do this just in case.

It was helpful that everyone was aware that I needed to take off my speech processor before I got in the water.  They would remind me to take it off, and they would double check all the time.  One time my brother pushed me into the water, and I freaked out and said, "What if I had my speech processor on!"  He laughed and said, " I checked!"  Before he pushed me in, he leaned close to my ear and asked if I could hear him.  I didn't respond, so he knew I didn't have it on, so he pushed me in.  Haha!

ASL was very helpful on this trip because my implant was off a lot of the time.  It was very helpful to know ASL because we still had a way to communicate when I was in the water.  I think I would feel left out if we didn't use ASL.  I can read lips, but when the conversation is jumping all the time, I get lost.  But with ASL I feel like I am part of the conversation.  Anyway, this trip reminded me how grateful I am that I know ASL.

I would like to thank Shaeley for being so kind to me on this trip.  She took the effort to learn some ASL.  She would finger spell a word she wanted to know, and I would show her the sign.  By the end of the week she knew simple signs like ready, go, cold, hot, want, etc.  I really appreciated that she learned a few simple words in ASL.  It might seem simple, but it made the trip 10x better.  Thank you Shaeley!