It’s been 6 years since SJ was diagnosed with profound hearing loss. The Kentucky Derby never fails to serve as a reminder of this milestone.

 

It was May of 2012 and we had been waiting a month for the ABR test which would finally confirm whether or not SJ was deaf. We had the test done at an audiologist in Lousiville Kentucky which is where the Derby is. Her appointment was on Derby weekend and the whole city is buzzing with energy. Everyone is drinking and hardly anyone is working (even the secretary at the audiologist’s office was off for Derby day). Every woman you saw was dressed in their southern finest with gigantic fancy hats on their heads. So much celebration going on all around us and there we were finding out that our two year old daughter has never heard our voices.

Fast forward to now. SJ is practicing her graduation speech and song. I feel a little guilty about how much emphasis I have put on SJ’s upcoming graduation to my friends and family and on social media. I’ve been talking about since last year!

 

 


 `




 

Obviously I have a lot of words and feelings to get off of my chest right now. It’s just that we have been waiting 6 years for this. It’s amazing how much can happen in 6 years and yet you can never really quantify it in words.

“It took 6 years to get to this point.”

It takes less than 3 seconds to say that sentence, but it takes millions of seconds to live it. That’s why I am so focused on this big event. That’s why I talk about it so much. It has taken 2 surgeries, a multitude of specialists, and countless hours of therapy in order for SJ to hear and speak but she is doing it. The day that she no longer needs full-time intervention services is less than two weeks away.

So I apppologize if I over-share about all of this stuff. Thanks for being there for me as I process it all. Thank you for the prayer and support. Praise God we can see the finish line right around the corner. Although, as with many endings it is also a new beginning, the one we’ve prayed for all along.