![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Exciting Days
Feb. 9th, 2010 01:41 pmI'm meeting the very coolest people these days.
A lovely older woman came by with her son today, she's deaf and speaks beautifully with just the tiniest accent. I had to keep reminding myself to look at her when her son was commanding my presence in the other direction. It's been so long since I've been around deaf folks, I hadn't realized how much I missed it. I was fortunate to live near a deaf bar in Brooklyn so I could keep my ASL skills up, not to mention deaf manners. For those who haven't had this exposure, the deaf have their own culture and etiquette. Learning it takes a bit of subtlety but I found it to be a very intense and often oddly intimate way of communicating with someone. I treasure the faith and patience the deaf have invested in me over the years. *eyes tearing up* I get very sentimental about that time of my life, because it led me back to college to get my Special Education training.
Now that we've gone down the sentimental lane, more on our visitors. I gave him a few chicks to hold, then he looked up at me with the BCM chicks in his hands and asked "Can I buy the other three? I think they all want to stay together!" I grinned and agreed, so off they go into the wild blue yonder with all five brooder chicks. As they left, he asked if I would consider selling him Dillinger once he's healed. Hell yes! The mother also asked if I could keep my eye out for more ducks for their farm, which I just happen to have a great connection. More poultry marketing for me!
This is all an unexpected gift for me on many levels. My aunt lived with us when I was a kid in New York as she attended graduate school for her speech pathology degree. She taught us sign language as an experiment, she now specializes in helping children with sudden and catastrophic hearing loss. My Mum likes to tease that Aunt Betty taught us ASL as a way to keep us quiet!
I'd been worrying about having too many chickens, what with one cockerel (Dillinger) and two adult hens already plus the McMurray Order (I'm responsible for a minimum 15 & my order buddy is getting 10) coming. Now that the brooder chicks are off to great owners, I can rest easy and have a bit more fun than I had expected with the order. *rubs hands with glee*
A lovely older woman came by with her son today, she's deaf and speaks beautifully with just the tiniest accent. I had to keep reminding myself to look at her when her son was commanding my presence in the other direction. It's been so long since I've been around deaf folks, I hadn't realized how much I missed it. I was fortunate to live near a deaf bar in Brooklyn so I could keep my ASL skills up, not to mention deaf manners. For those who haven't had this exposure, the deaf have their own culture and etiquette. Learning it takes a bit of subtlety but I found it to be a very intense and often oddly intimate way of communicating with someone. I treasure the faith and patience the deaf have invested in me over the years. *eyes tearing up* I get very sentimental about that time of my life, because it led me back to college to get my Special Education training.
Now that we've gone down the sentimental lane, more on our visitors. I gave him a few chicks to hold, then he looked up at me with the BCM chicks in his hands and asked "Can I buy the other three? I think they all want to stay together!" I grinned and agreed, so off they go into the wild blue yonder with all five brooder chicks. As they left, he asked if I would consider selling him Dillinger once he's healed. Hell yes! The mother also asked if I could keep my eye out for more ducks for their farm, which I just happen to have a great connection. More poultry marketing for me!
This is all an unexpected gift for me on many levels. My aunt lived with us when I was a kid in New York as she attended graduate school for her speech pathology degree. She taught us sign language as an experiment, she now specializes in helping children with sudden and catastrophic hearing loss. My Mum likes to tease that Aunt Betty taught us ASL as a way to keep us quiet!
I'd been worrying about having too many chickens, what with one cockerel (Dillinger) and two adult hens already plus the McMurray Order (I'm responsible for a minimum 15 & my order buddy is getting 10) coming. Now that the brooder chicks are off to great owners, I can rest easy and have a bit more fun than I had expected with the order. *rubs hands with glee*
