Its a beautiful weekend. Dan is at his first day as a caddy at The Park Country Club. Mike and his girlfriend, Dom, are in New Paltz for a wedding. We are getting our eyes checked and ordering some new long overdue frames. Then there is party at Steph’s crazy friend, Holly’s, house. And then tomorrow, the 1st Annual Elephant Run. Busy huh?

Ok…for the topic of this week, I want to refer you to a website about little Drew who was born with profound hearing loss in both ears. The blog, Drew’s Dad, is about a family’s journey to “turn on” his hearing. A comment referenced in this particular article has raised the ire of many. Please read it before you see my point. Now, I am not going to get into the debate about Deaf vs. deaf but as of this writing, the offended blog posting was deleted. It was about a totally mis-informed deaf individual’s criticism of Drew’s parents decision to have him implanted.

I was born hearing impaired. Even though I fooled my parents and they didn’t realize it until later, their dedication and love is in many ways, parallel to Drew’s. They shuffled me off from doctor to doctor, clinic to clinic, retreats where there were other hearing impaired kids, and a million other places. They decided that mainstreaming me into the Albany Public School system was the best choice for me. Part of the decision behind this had to do with the fact they had a program in collaboration with Albany Medical Center to offer speech and language skills for hearing impaired kids. It was the best of both worlds. They gave me every opportunity to minimize my disability and to feel that is was nothing more than a mere distraction. They spent hundreds, perhaps thousands of dollars doing all of this and not including all of the hearing aids and parts that I mysteriously broke. All of this is just the tip of the iceberg of what we went through. My father, unfortunately, passed away shortly after I turned 16. But my mother continued on.

Fast forward thirty plus years….I am now successful, with a wonderful family, house, cat, a new found appreciation for health and running, and HAPPY! And my mother is still around to pester and worry about me and fight with me, as always. But, not once do I ever regret all of the decisions my parents (and sister) made for me. They made all of the right choices because they, and only they were capable of doing that. That is what parents are for! And you have to remember, this is before the internet age and technology so clearly, there was a lot of literal running around and phone calls and meetings. And to this very day, my mother is still doing the running around and phone calls and meetings, while I am enjoying the one of the many fruits of her love and labor.

I am sure Drew’s parents are doing the right thing for him so that he can be HAPPY….

Happy Mother’s Day, Maahhhhhh…I love you!