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Friday, September 1, 2017

Raising a modern child and other facets of the week




Hard to believe this child is wearing velvet and lace to homecoming. With her friends, not with Denny. “Don’t be concerned, it’s his fault.”




Here is the back of her tee shirt. It’s Laura’s second year of American Sign. She eats lunch with deaf friends. “They eat a lot slower because of signing.” “That’s good for you, eating slower.” “I know. I’d eat with them anyway.”  American Sign can bring tears to my eyes. It’s lovely, like swans on water.




Laura is becoming a decent driver. I have her drive most everywhere, in daylight, and discuss any shortcomings when the trip is over. She has driven at night with her instructors, and, perish the thought, on the freeway. I’m not up for riding shotgun on the freeway. She’s only been at this a couple of months. I did see one of her driving instructors wrote “Catches on quick” by the maneuverability test.

I don’t know what the weather is up to this last month. Temperatures should be in the eighties during the day, but barely make seventy, as in seven, zero. The house hung onto its heat until the last couple of days, but now the morning temps in the house are mid fifties and not rising to seventy. Of course, no sun is shining on us, either.

It's time to clean the filters and switch to heat. If it's going to be cold in the morning, I prefer to wake up to, say, sixty.

Last spring, when I first came back, I pathetically climbed the steps to the office and asked if the maintenance man would show me how to clean the filters. I’d seen the furnace guy seem to whisk them out, up to his armpits over the barrier. I didn’t get it. Dan was there before I was home. He pulled down the top wall of the furnace room, reached in and pulled out the filters. Honestly! I was so unmechanical five months ago.

Then, Dan was going to wash the filters in the kitchen sink. Laura wrested them away and had them to the outside faucet in a heartbeat. I’ve raised her well. Filters are on tomorrow's job list.

21 comments:

  1. How wonderful that Laura is learning to sign. She's a good kid. I would have killed to have hair like hers when I was her age (back in the 70s).

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  2. Learning sign language - how great is that?! And "catches on quick" is one of the best compliments there is. Good on her for going to homecoming with friends when the boy wasn't an option.

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  3. You have raised her well indeed, Joanne!

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  4. Laura amazes me. You must be awestruck.

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  5. How cool, I learned sign language many years ago when work I n g with students with hearing impairments. On remember a few signs.

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  6. How cool with Laura and her friends and talking in sign language. Watching praise songs at church signed out make me cry when I'm privileged to observe them. Bit early to get so cool there?

    betty

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  7. You have indeed raised her well.
    Love that she is going to homecoming with friends - and doesn't seem to mind a bit.
    I too learned a little sign language years ago. I can remember the alphabet but not a lot more.

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  8. I like how Laura is developing into a very fine human being. Bravo to her for learning sign. Congrats to her too on learning how to drive so well.

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  9. My wife, Norma, took ASL classes 15 years ago at our local junior college. It was an interesting and closely-knit community. They also met for restaurant dinners, which I enjoyed greatly because I could help create signs for off-color phrases --it's a gift. Lots of laughter.

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  10. Hari OM
    Yup - I've seen it in action, and you have! You remind me that I need to get the boiler man in to check my central heating (not a simple filter-clean job here I'm afraid). I took sign language for my 'Duke of Edinburgh award'... recently discovered that I could remember some of it when encountering a deaf lady. However, I'd be lost over your way - the two signings are foreign to each other! YAM xx

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  11. Laura is a delightful young woman. Jess met a brother or sister who had deaf parents. The kids could sign perfectly and sometimes did to their advantage like getting to the front of a queue once.

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  12. Laura is going t be lovely in velvet and lace.
    I'm glad she is a good driver and picks things up quickly.

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  13. I suppose that all children are modern by definition...

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  14. When I compare myself as a child to the young ones I see today...It's like I was living in the dark ages. These kids are up on curent events, tech savvy....just amazing how much they know and are involved in at such young ages.

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  15. I love Laura's smile - it takes over her face (and probably the entire room). She's wonderful. Good for you for learning how to change these filters yourself.

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  16. I've been meaning to do it all summer, but can't find my list of sizes every time. I now have a new list of sizes and think I'll get new ones today, before I forget or lose the list again.

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  17. You have raised a pretty remarkable young lady.

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  18. Good prep work for colder days that will come. Here, it's still over 100 every day. Even San Francisco was 106 yesterday. Our AC and heat come through the same system, so once summer is over, Terry will put a new filter in the hallway vent.

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  19. You're right to be proud , she's turning out really well ...
    And will look lovely in velvet , lace and bright smile .

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  20. Laura sounds like a decent kid. It's good that she drives so well now.

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