My friend Talea, whom I've known since 8th grade in good ol' Linden, Michigan. She's a hand-talker because she is deaf, and she communicates in American Sign Language. All through high school, every time we spoke it was in letter-by-letter, spelled-out words, because back then I didn't know anything in ASL except the alphabet. Bless Talea for being patient. :) So in college I finally learned ASL well enough to carry on conversations, and then we moved here to Texas, and lo and behold, Talea lives in Texas now, too! She found me on Facebook, and sent me a message a few weeks ago saying she'd be in the Austin area and wanted to come and say hi.

People, let me tell you--I was SOOOOOO nervous! My last ASL class was in Fall 2002, and since then I've tried to use my skills, but it's hard to keep them up if you don't know any deaf people. So I was petrified that I wouldn't be able to remember things well enough to talk to her. But, as it turns out, ASL is a lot like riding a bike--you never really forget how to do it. I forgot a few words here and there, but that's what finger-spelling is for. :) Talea and I had a blast hanging out, and once Kenn got home he was able to use his rusty ASL skills as well, and we had a great time. Her friend Dong, who is also deaf, gave her a ride, so we got doubly-immersed in ASL, and Caleb LOVED it. When Talea and Dong would start signing rapidly to one another, he would just stand there and stare. He was amazed. It was so much fun to see her, and I LOVE that she only lives an hour away. Hopefully we can see each other again soon, and I can remember how much ASL I've forgotten.

Labels: friends, random