Change & ASL

Yesterday was the first day of college. The beginning everything went well then during the middle of the day it got bad. One of the classes were in the gym. I had been to every single building but the gym. That's a long story though that's embarrassing to share. The best part of the day was the end of the day. Since I am undecided I am really only taking the classes that are required. I knew that I would be miserable if I didn't pick some random class that I wanted to take. As I was looking through the classes in that awful office. I saw sign language. The first thing I thought was, "No, I could never learn that." I struggled beyond belief to learn Latin. I didn't even learn Latin in three years. For some reason I said that I would take the class. The only problem is that the class was at five at night. No wonder not many people signed up for the class. I got to the room and you could tell we were tired. It was eat dinner and sit around and do nothing time. Eventually this perky redheaded woman comes into the classroom. She was basically Ariel from the little mermaid. I took this as a good sign. In the beginning we went around the room and talked about why we were taking the class. Again I hadn't really thought about it.
Then Chrysalis and Marlee Matlin. Chrysalis was a Christian youth retreat that I went to my freshman year of high school. Chrysalis wrapped its arms around the Deaf community. Probably about forty percent were either Deaf or hard of hearing. They were some of the nicest people that I ever met. I'm sure they struggled to read my fast lips. Which apparently is very rude to a Deaf person. Yet the never complained or chastised me. You could tell how the Deaf community is more than a community. It's a family. I know that's cheesy but it's true. I will never forget Meegan. The sweetest woman you will ever meet. Her husband is Deaf and she was one of the interpreters. Out of about a hundred teenagers she noticed me. She stopped me in a bathroom and told me that she and her husband were praying for me. Because she saw me and knew that I was the one that she needed to pray for. At the end of the weekend she gave me a lady bug pin and told me how special and unique I was. It meant the world to me.
I thought about Marlee Matlin because she is one of the best actresses I have ever seen. She is also Deaf. She wrote an amazing book that you should check it out. She talked about the injustices and intolerance that happens to the Deaf community. She also talked about how great the Deaf community is.
The class was wonderful needless to say. About halfway through the class the professor 'turned off her voice'. Then she signed and wrote for the rest of the class. It was a little difficult to understand but we eventually got it. Hopefully we don't have homework because if we do I didn't catch it. I did manage to learn the alphabet which is pretty impressive for me. Also how to sign "What is your name?" and "My name is..." Luckily my nickname is pretty easy to sign. Also some random signs. I pity the girl who sits next to me with a long name.
After the class though I felt empowered. It was like a high. I was so hungry for more knowledge. As I was leaving I saw one of my old math teachers. He teaches stats at the college. We said hi and talked for a little. I could tell that there was something that he wanted to say but didn't. His facial expression seemed to say, "You changed." It felt good to see that. I didn't seem to notice how much I have actually changed since freshman year. I am definitely more happy than I was then. Way more. If you had told me I was taking a sign language class I would have laughed at you. I would have never been brave enough. I wouldn't have done a lot of the things that I have done. Yesterday was the first day that I felt like I had grown up a tiny bit.

DFTBA
-AB

In case you wanted to learn the alphabet as well...