Time Capsule

Nestled at the very back of a desk drawer, in an index file box, I discovered a forgotten treasure from when Chance was first diagnosed.

At first, the index cards that fell out and drifted to the floor puzzled me.  Card after card full of names of neighborhood children,  Disney characters and movies, and the names of various family members plus some of Chance's favorite foods.


Then the light went on in my brain and I realized, these were the cards I had made to use with Chance when he was diagnosed as being deaf.

This box represents Chance's world at the time of diagnosis. Kids he interacted with in the neighborhood, Disney characters since we were planning a trip to Disneyland, foods he liked, and the names of aunts, uncles and cousins that Chance would be interacting with.

Chance gets fitted with his very first hearing aids

Each card was a piece of vocabulary that would make Chance's life easier and more enjoyable if he could give names to the things he was interested in and the people he saw.

Chance and I would go through that box of words representing Chance's world to familiarize him with his surroundings. 

Our neighborhood is full of children and it was not uncommon for us to have six to ten extra kids playing over here at our house.

It  occurred to me that Chance did not know the name of these kids and we needed to give him names to help him feel more apart of the group.

Then there was the day Chance started requesting to see the movie,"Putta Putta," Chance was not really into movies at all, so it was surprising that he was so insistent that I put one on for him.  I had absolutely no idea what that movie could be.  Chance was insistent and started getting quite upset when I could not understand what he wanted. In fact, on that day, Chance had been running from one appointment to another and he was just tuckered out.  He needed someone to understand what he was saying and to let him relax. So he started to sob when I could not get the movie he was telling me to get.

Waiting for the earmolds to dry.

I ended up pulling out each movie case one by one and holding it up so Chance could give input.
It turned out the movie he wanted was "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang."  To be fair to me, who could have guessed that would be the movie with the information given?  I was reminded of this incident when the index card marked Chitty Chitty Bang Bang  drifted to the floor when I opened the drawer.

It was like opening a box full of memories.  Chance's own time capsule.

It is now a precious little box to me full of memories and feelings I felt at the time.

It is also a reminder of how far we have come from those early days of diagnosis.

I could not have wished for a better outcome.  Chance now knows the name of more kids in the neighborhood than I do.  He can easily tell us what movies or foods he likes and as far as the relatives go,  besides the name Robert, which comes up 7 times in my husband's immediate family,  Chance has things pretty much covered.