Memory lane........

The local chapter of the Alexander Graham Bell Association held it's annual speech fair and the deaf and hard of hearing kids were in good form.

Chance was slated to sing a song that he learned in chorus this year, and was scheduled to perform toward the end of the night.

As I sat there listening to kids ages 2 to teenagers performing, it was a little like a trip down memory lane. First there were the preschool kids who had just begun their journey to hear. They were so little and cute. Some of them could barely say their names right. That had been our little Chance. Out of all the sounds in the speech banana, the "ch" in his name proved to be a challenge for a while for Chance.

Then came the slightly older kids. They were not as nervous and some had no issue performing in front of the over 300 people who attended. Chance had not been nervous about performing when he was that age either.

Then there were the kindergarten kids. They looked confident and sang their hearts out. Chance received his first implant at the end of kindergarten. His confidence in his ability to hear soared after that.

When Chance's old class got up to perform, Chance literally sat at the edge of his seat. There were his peers that he had gone to school with for 5 years. For the first time, he was not performing with them. They all looked great.

When the teenagers got up to perform, and they talked about how they were on the honor roll at school, or running on the track team or how they loved to dance, (dance on a team requires music, which requires hearing), I thought about how Chance will be up there someday, fully capable to do what ever his passions dictate.

This speech fair was a great source of hope and determination in the beginning. We would see these kids perform and look at our little boy and think,"Hey! He is going to be able to do things that all kids do regardless of his deafness! Look at these kids! They are amazing!"

I remember almost dragging my parents over to talk to one of the teachers who was deaf, just so that they could talk to her and see how much Chance was still capable of, despite the diagnosis of deafness.

Our families were quite startled to find out Chance was deaf. It came out of the blue and no one knew what the possibilities were. That deaf teacher, and those deaf kids performing, showed just what the possibilities were. Chance WOULD be able to read poetry one day and dance to music. And say the 'Ch' in the beginning of his name.

I also realized how much I cared about several of the parents of those deaf kids. We have been through the process together. Shared the same concerns, had the same worries and experienced the same triumphs as our kids literally learned to hear. The parents of these kids are amazing. Their dedication and perseverance is inspiring. Some of the kids have had different challenges besides just the deafness and their parents have been there lighting the way for them.

AND THE KIDS! These kids are amazing! They are smart, they are determined and they are capable. It makes my hear swell to watch them.

These deaf kids and their parents will be interconnected with us forever.