I am a very fortunate girl, sometimes I just need to say it out loud to remind myself. I can say it inside my head or write it, but giving some sound to the words somehow makes it stick. We play games on a daily basis using both sound and silence. I was chilling with Perla today trying to chew out this blog topic and bounce it off of her fourteen year old head, never underestimate a fourteen year old Italian girl. She likes this guy who never calls, he plays the silence game because every now and then, when he feels like it, he'll send her a text message. Perla is the cool type, so if she gets pissed off, she'll tell him straight up where to go with his games, but sometimes the games even get to her. Silence leaves room for interpretation and the mind wanders creating interesting scenarios. Then...sound, reality. Reality erases those images as quickly as a rag on a wipeoff board.
My son moves in and out of the worlds of sound and silence, literally. He has the ability to choose which world to live in and experience. How powerful is that? He turns a potential disadvantage into an advantage and manipulates his worlds...even at age eleven.
Since Jordan was an infant, he has loved the swimming pool. We enrolled him in swimming classes because he smiled the most in the water, didn't have to talk and revelled in his world of silence. Nope, no hearing aids in the water, although he did jump in a couple of times with them, sheer nightmare. As a hearing mamma, perhaps the closest I can come to his world is by staying underwater as long as possible to experience true silence. But, it's just not long enough to really get it. If I try to imagine being deaf, the idea of being alone in my own head terrifies me, I have very loud thoughts in this period. Yet, I imagine I would really get to know myself for better and worse. Jordan wore hearing aids for eight years before receiving the cochlear implant and has never requested to hear while swimming.
The other day, a mom and dad posted this video on the Pediatric Cochlear Implant Circle of how to "waterproof" a cochlear implant, because their child wants to hear while swimming. Just amazing. It overwhelms me how parents become creative and motivated to offer every single possible opportunity for their child to be comfortable in any environment.
Speaking of sound and silence, my dress that I just got for the wedding in April is all about sound! Whoa...it is irridescent deep purple sleeveless, empire waist, balloon cut REALLY short and H-O-T! After all, I must represent Tuscany at a New York wedding, I can't be going in no rags...Gotta go to dinner at Rhonda's, her Dad's in town, so I am going to chat all night long in English, the only problem is that I'll have to control my use of inappropriate language. *smile*
1 comment:
Even though I don't have a kid with a CI, I enjoyed watching the video of the little boy swimming with it. He looked so happy. I know how he feels, mainly because I have to take off my glasses when I go swimming. Then I can't hear OR see. I can wear contacts, but I hate them in chlorine. They're OK for the ocean when I go snorkling.
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