Making Lemons Out of Lemonade

Many days I go about things with a bit of a wall around me. I've been known not to think my feelings as true facts. If I'm angry, I should deal with my anger. And if I'm happy, I should try to spread a little happiness. This might surprise you, but when I have negative emotions--usually due to being Deaf or mentally ill---it's very hard for me to deal with them. That's because borderlines have a hard time admitting they're wrong to feel something or feeling invalidated.

But one day, about 18 years ago, I was driving over to a friends' house. We'd made a time to hang out that day, Well, as I was on my way, I noticed a bunch of little kids selling lemonade. At first, I past by it and didn't pay much attention. But then I thought, I'm in a good mood. I want to do something nice for someone else. So, I made a U turn in my manual car and went back  to their front yard. At that time, I didn't realize I had to put the car in gear and roll my tires so they fall toward a curb. I did none  of that. All I knew was that the kids seemed very happy that I came to give them business.

I was able to communicate my want of lemonade, but within a minute, all the kids started screaming and running away. I looked over at  my car only to see it was headed for us. Not only that, but it was also headed straight to the lemonade stand. and totally demolished it.

Noone was hurt, thankfully, but I don't know if I'll ever do a u-turn for a snack every again.

Deaf Friendly "Family Feud??" Could it Be?

Yesterday evening I was sitting down to catch an hour of TV before I started dinner. My son, Jake, was sitting alone in the living room. He seemed really relaxed, and then every so often he would yell and sign, “Matches!” “A lighter!” I walked further into the room and saw what was happening. He was watching an episode of “Family Feud” and really getting into it. The question had been for them to name ways to start a fire.

The next round up, I joined him at the front as Steve Harvey asked the next question: “We asked 100 men what you would be most likely doing on your day off?” We pushed on our imaginary buzzers, but there was a problem: The captions were slow. So, by the time I yelled out, “Play golf,” Jake had already gotten the number one answer, which was “Work outside in the yard.” A few minutes later it happened again…and again…and again. This show was definitely not deaf-friendly.

During the Fast Money round, I couldn’t keep up. It was fun to try, but not realistic to think about going on the actual show.

Jake turned to me after the show. “Mom,” he said, looking disappointed, “They should have a “Deaf Family Feud” with interpreters and questions written on a screen. (Isn’t he the greatest?)

I agreed with him, of course. All game shows should show equality, don’t you think? Even the older ones should come back on and be deaf-friendly. That’s what Jake and I think, at least.

But if they ever do fix “Family Feud” to be deaf-friendly, they’d have to have a Deaf host. Not necessarily because of signing (though that’s a big part of it), but because Steve Harvey annoys every inch of my being. “We asked 100 men and women what they like about Steve Harvey as a host of “Family Feud.” The answer by a landslide was????? NOTHING!!!!