Inspirational Stuff | A Deaf Mom Shares Her World

When Fear Holds You Back

“You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”

This quote by Eleanor Roosevelt is something that I remind myself of every now and then. Fear is often the emotion behind the reason we hold back. “What if…”

One of the hardest things for me to do with my boys was to let them play football. It wasn’t that I detested the sport (slamming others to the ground, ugh!), it was the idea that they could lose more hearing by butting their heads into someone else’s. We have a family history of people losing their hearing from knocking around our heads:

For many years, my family was unique when it came to stories about hearing loss. Everyone in my family, for five generations, was born with hearing in the normal range. My Mom started losing her hearing as a teen. She became deaf at the age of 27.

“I was at a family BBQ and all of a sudden, I realized I couldn’t hear anything,” Mom shared. “I could see that lips were moving, but no sound was coming out.” Just like that, my Mom became deaf. Her five siblings also were deaf or hard of hearing.

I have four older siblings. My sister, Linda, was almost three years old when she fell off of a chair and hit her head on the corner of a baseboard. Later that week, my Mom noticed that she wasn’t responding to people. She began to stop talking. She was diagnosed with a profound hearing loss. My brother, Dennis, grew up with normal hearing and at the age of 36, he was hit on the head by a wooden beam at work and woke up in the hospital with severe hearing loss. My sister, Jeanie, grew up with a unilateral hearing loss and around the same age as my mom, began losing more hearing. In her mid-forties, she slipped on a rug and became profoundly deaf. My brother, Kenny, developed a moderate hearing loss in his late 30’s.

I became very sick with a high fever as a child and my parents believe it was that illness which triggered my hearing loss when I was in elementary school. My first hearing aid was given to me when I was nine– but I only wore when at school. I found that it caused headaches and tinnitus and I often took it off after school and never touched it during the summer. When I was 19, I was water skiing on my bare feet at a high speed and fell sideways into the water. For weeks, I thought I just couldn’t get the water out of my ear. I had become profoundly deaf. From that point on, hearing aids were a constant thing in my life. Years later, my brother Kenny also lost some hearing from barefooting.

Whenever I would share my family’s story about how we all became deaf and hard of hearing, people would be incredulous at the events that lead to hearing loss. “Y’all need to stop banging your heads,” one person remarked.

Joe and I had long, deep discussions about whether or not to let the boys play football. We both agreed that we didn’t want this gene to hold our family back– after all, my Mom went deaf in the middle of a conversation–she had done nothing to provoke the hearing loss. My sister did not agree with our decision, she felt we were taking too much of a risk in allowing the boys to play a contact sport. The kids have always known they could lose more hearing at any time, but I didn’t want them tiptoeing through life.

Last week, I found myself facing a little bit of fear that surprised the heck out of me. I was up in Wisconsin spending three days barefooting with Joann O’Connor. We were kicking back after a great day of footin and had just finished dinner. Joann casually suggested that I try some wake crossing the next day. All of a sudden, I felt like the wind was knocked out of me. “I don’t know about that,” I said. “After all, that’s how I ended up falling and going deaf.”

Like I said, it surprised the heck out of me. I had long ago accepted the transition from hard of hearing to deaf and was quite comfortable with my life. There was a little tiny piece inside of me that wanted to hang on to the little bit of hearing that I had left with hearing aids. I already knew what it was like to be stone deaf once the hearing aids hit the nightstand. Was I ok with being stone deaf if I whacked my head again and all of it went poof?

Joann and I discussed it and I told her if I lost the bit of hearing that was left, I’d be ok with it. I still wasn’t sure if I was going to tackle any wake crossing though. Heck, I spent the entire summer trying to conquer a deep water start and I just wanted to learn to get back up on the water. I had spent the afternoon trying one deep water start after another with no success.

It was 6:30 a.m. when Joann and I reached for the wetsuits and headed for the boat. “Here, try the shoe skis,” Joann suggested. No sooner did I stand up on the shoe skis then my feet went off in two different directions and I face planted.

“Hey, you stood up too fast!” Joann explained. I gritted my teeth and leaned back in the water for a second try. This time, I patiently planted my feet and got up slowly. I could see Joann grinning from the boat.

I looked at the wake and all of a sudden I said to myself, “What the heck!” I went for it. I crossed over once, crossed over twice and by the third time… I was grinning back at Joann.

“You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”

Good ole Eleanor was right.

Bookmark me!

More »

Tags: Inspirational Stuff by DeafMom
10 Comments »

Putz Household Celebrates Clean Sink

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Chicago– The Putz Household is celebrating tonight. For the first time since January 15, 2007, the Putz family has found the bottom of their sink again.

“It’s a miracle,” exclaimed Karen Putz, head of the household. “The last time I saw the bottom of the sink was several years ago. I forgot what it looked like!”

Putz credits an empty house and lack of travel for the successful accomplishment. “The kids are at camp all week and this was the first week in June that I didn’t have to fly somewhere,” said Putz. “I took one look at the mountain of dishes and said to myself, ‘I’m going to conquer that this week!’”

It took Putz nearly an hour to load up the dishwasher and start the automatic cleaning process with a push of a button. The large serving trays from Lauren’s graduation party were washed by hand and stored in the cabinet.

Over at Christie Lake in Lawrence, Michigan, Putz’s parents reacted with surprise and an excited cheer. “I’m so proud of my daughter!” said Marian Griffard. “This is such an amazing feat!”

Putz was amazed to discover a shiny sink after a few scrubs with a Scotch-Brite scrubber and some baking soda.

“I was just blinded by the find,” said Putz. “I had to dig out my sunglasses to finish the job.”

Putz plans to celebrate her thrilling achievement with a gathering of her closest friends tonight.

# # #

Bookmark me!

More »

Tags: CSDVRS, Inspirational Stuff, Uncategorized by DeafMom
5 Comments »

Find a Mentor to Get You Where You Want to Go

Yeah, that’s me on the top left, hanging on for dear life as we formed a pyramid on Christie Lake for the first time when I was a teen. My mentor is on the bottom in the middle– Brent Greenwood. Brent is a guy who popped into my life out of the blue, and he taught me a lot about barefooting and pyramids in a very short amount of time. We had only spent two days together, but he taught me something that will stay with me for the rest of my life: visualize yourself doing what you want to do from the start to the finish, practice it, and you can make it happen.

Brent asked me if I wanted to learn how to do a deep-water start for barefooting. I was definitely game! He got out a rope and we practiced on dry land. He told me to go home and practice it in my mind and we would try it the next morning. Brent went first and demonstrated how to hang on to the rope and then get up barefooting. As I watched him on the water, I pictured myself doing every step. It took the third try to make it happen, but there I was, feet first wrapped on the rope and then suddenly, standing on the water zipping along.

As I look back on my life, I realize it has been filled with mentors every step of the way. When we seek out those who know more than us, we can learn from them and in turn, we grow. Every time I have a new goal or a new dream, I seek out folks who have walked the journey before me and I learn from them. I ask questions:

“How did you get to be where you are today?”

“What are some of the challenges you faced on your journey and how can I learn from them?”

“What knowledge do I need to acquire to get where I want to go?”

“What tools do I need to use to achieve my goal?”

As a person who is deaf, the internet has been a wonderful place to find mentors. Blogs, Facebook and Twitter have been the tools that I use the most to get to know people. I find that people generally do love to share their knowledge– you have to build a relationship first. Some of the most amazing people I know who have shared their wisdom with me, I have yet to meet them face-to-face!

So if you’ve got a dream that’s brewing and you’re not sure where you’re going, find a mentor to help guide you. Friends will tell you what to do, mentors will help you figure out what you need to do to accomplish your dream.

Bookmark me!

More »

Tags: Inspirational Stuff by DeafMom
4 Comments »

Start the Ripple and Inspire Someone Today!

For all those who think they’re “too old” or that the “best years are over with,” this one is for you:

Here’s the script (the captioning is wonky!):

Keith St. Onge:
“Here we are at the World Barefoot Center with Judy Myers and Karen Putz. Very unique story we have here today. Today we have Karen Putz, she is deaf. It has been over 25 years since she has barefooted and we got her back on her feet skiing along today! Some more of the unique story is that Karen was introduced back into barefooting by seeing Judy Myers 67 years old skiing. Want to tell us a little bit more about that Karen?”

Karen: “Sure! It was my 44th birthday and I was sitting at my parents’ lake, just sitting there thinking that the best years were over with. It had been ten years since I touched the water barefooting. So I’m sitting there thinking, “Gosh, I wish I could barefoot again.” I didn’t think I could. I mean I was 44 years old and I thought if I barefoot again I might break something.

Keith St. Onge:
“Right… A lot of people think that they might break something and they are to old to barefoot, but that is not the case.”

Karen: So in October of that year, my husband sent me a link to Judy from the Today Show. At first, I didn’t open it but when I was cleaning out emails that one popped up. So I clicked on the link and I’m watching Judy and she’s barefooting on the water. I’m like, wait a minute! She’s 66 years old and she’s barefooting on the water. If she’s 66, well then, what’s my excuse? I’m 44– I can get back on the water again!

So I contacted Judy and she said, “Come on down to Florida!” So that’s exactly what I did two, three weeks ago. On my first try, I got back to barefooting again.

Keith St. Onge: One of the big questions is how we communicate with Karen. We can talk but she can not hear us, Karen can read lips. She reads lips perfectly! As long as Karen is making eye contact it works well.
Karen:
Keith is easy to lipread!

Keith: The unique cool thing here is that Judy Myers 67 the oldest female barefooter in the world still competing . She has been bringing a lot of people down to the ski school, people have seen her Fit to Boom video, Subway commercial, all this type of stuff and things have been really cool. It has been AWESOME!

Karen: If Judy can do it, then ANYONE can do it!

Judy Myers:
“That’s Right! That is exactly right”

More: The Best Years of Life Are Still Ahead

Bookmark me!

More »

Tags: Inspirational Stuff, People You Should Know by DeafMom
4 Comments »

On Being Deaf

Someone asked me recently, “Do you wish you could hear?”

I had to stop and ponder that one.

If you asked me that question when I was nineteen, shortly after I became deaf from a fall while barefooting, I would have said, “Hell, yes.” No pause. No reflection there. The answer would have been simple: give me full-fledged hearing and I will dance a jig until the end of time.

I was born with hearing in the normal range. I can remember my Dad telling me stories about a dog named Scamp. My Dad worked double shifts, so I would crawl into bed when he arrived home and lie there while he told me stories. I was about five or six when the warning signs began showing– I’d misunderstand a sentence or would ask him to repeat the words. I grew up hard of hearing and had developed lipreading skills since I was young — I was firmly entrenched in the “hearing” world and knew no sign language.

The last shred of what I could hear without hearing aids was gone the moment I climbed into the boat after cartwheeling on the water. I didn’t realize it that day– I just figured I had water in my ears and it would subside. It wasn’t until the day that I left for college that I realized that “being deaf” was here to stay. I spent my college nights lying there in the dark and… crying. Grief was a heavy cloak that wrapped around me in the darkness. I cursed the piece of electronic equipment that I stuffed into my ear each day which did nothing more than bring environmental sounds to life and made lipreading a tad easier. I had already spent most of my life lipreading, but I could at least hear the sounds around me and turn when spoken to without the hearing aid. After that fall, there was nothing but silence without hearing aids. A blessing at night, indeed, when the roar of tinnitus eventually stopped. But it wasn’t a real blessing until I was deep into the journey.

College life was filled with deaf and hard of hearing friends; some who had arrived into the Deaf Community like me– with no knowledge of American Sign Language. I spent my days learning to lipread the interpreters and match their lip movements to their rapid hand movements. I took several ASL classes and slowly incorporated the language into everyday life. Before I knew it, life had become a happy journey down this new road.

And then one day, I realized that I no longer grieved. Instead, I celebrated. There was much to enjoy from this new life path– an amazing language, a wonderful community and a blessed acceptance that a deaf life was indeed full and beautiful.

So, you can see why today, I pause and ponder the answer to the question, “Do you wish you could hear?”

The answer is a complicated one. On one hand, yes. I close my eyes and imagine being able to hear what others are saying when I hang out in groups. I imagine the sweet bliss of being able to go anywhere, anytime and have access to the audio jungle out there. But there is the sweet bliss of being content with how my life has unfolded on this journey; because you see, becoming deaf didn’t rob me of life, instead, it gave me a whole, new, beautiful life.

Bookmark me!

More »

Tags: Inspirational Stuff by DeafMom
20 Comments »

Looking Forward to the Best Years of Life Ahead

Today’s post is a simple one. I’m sending you over to Chicago Moms Blog to read why I think the best years of life are still ahead:

ChicagoMomsBlog: The Best Years of Life Are Still Ahead

Bookmark me!

More »

Tags: Inspirational Stuff, People You Should Know by DeafMom
No Comments »

We are the World– in American Sign Language

In early February, Jane Holtz and I dropped off our two Laurens at the Desales Family Center in Michigan so they could participate in a D-Pan weekend camp. While Jane and I stayed in our pajamas all weekend and read books, our girls were having fun with Sean Forbes and a group of fellow campers. They produced two videos, “We are the World” (below) and “Smile,” (coming soon) in a tribute to Michael Jackson and in recognition of the Haiti earthquake.

Enjoy!

Photos from the weekend:

Bookmark me!

More »

Tags: Inspirational Stuff by DeafMom
9 Comments »

Are You Ready to Leap?

Last week, I hit the library in search of some books for a weekend getaway. Jane and I dropped off our daughters at DeSales Center in Michigan for a workshop with Sean Forbes from D-Pan and we planned to hang at the hotel and do nothing but read all weekend. While at the library, my eyes caught a title in the “Hot” books section: The Leap: How 3 Simple Changes Can Propel Your Career from Good to Great.

Hmmm, I figured, can’t hurt to know how to go from good to great where I’m at now.

I spent Friday night wading through emails, Twittering time away, chatting with folks on the Z4 and watching the Comedy Channel. “Ahhh, this is so nice,” I said to Jane. ”No one to interrupt me, no dishes to wash and a whole bed to myself. I could get used to this.” Jane just smiled– she was deep into a Harry Potter book.

Saturday morning found me submerged in the bathtub and I dove into ” The Leap.” Written by Rick Smith, he describes it best in this paragraph:

The Leap is a guide to personal evolution. It’s a ”good to great” manual for individuals, a book about aligning passions and skills, and about the amazing energy that gets released when we find our personal “sweet spot.” All of us have a special place on the spectrum where the best of our ability intersects with what most inspires us. Too few of us ever find that spot or even know it’s there. But it is there, and it’s magic. This book will point you to it.

And sure enough, it did. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Back in the bathtub, I dove into the first chapter where Rick describes a climb to success that ended up with him riding down the elevator after being let go by his company. He had written a best-selling book, The 5 Patterns of Extraordinary Careers: The Guide for Achieving Success and Satisfaction and all of a sudden, he was facing the fact that his career had suddenly ended.

Rick came up with the idea of putting together a company that would network the top well-known, highly respected executives in the world. He named his networking group/company World50. He faced opposition right from the beginning, with nay-sayers shooting down his idea left and right.

His first customer turned out to be Carl Gustin. Suddenly, I sat up in the bathtub and read on with even more interest. Carl Gustin was the former Chief Marketing Officer for Kodak and Apple. I had met Carl Gustin last summer in Las Vegas when he came to the Zvrs Team Week and gave a presentation. He also sat through our each of our team presentations where we shared our marketing ideas. I could see that he was a little nervous at first, after all, it was his first opporunity to spend a day surrounded by deaf and hard of hearing folks with all the hands zipping through the air. By the end of the day, Carl was laughing along with us. ”This company reminds me of Apple in the early days,” he told us at the end of the day. “You guys have a lot of passion.” Carl joined us all for dinner and I had the opportunity to chat with him and ask questions. Soon after, he joined the board of Zvrs and has been with us ever since.

After I finished the book, I took the “What’s Your Primary Color” analysis over at www.theleap.com. I found myself smack dab in the middle of the spectrum, a gray-blue color:

The book is filled with questions to explore– I’m saving those for later in the week when I can focus more on that. I have some ideas of how I want to go from good to great this year, but I also learned that my work with Zvrs is right where I want to be– my passion and my talents are aligned with where I want to go.

Now all I gotta do is…

Leap.

Bookmark me!

More »

Tags: Inspirational Stuff by DeafMom
1 Comment »

Judy Myers Inspires Deaf Mom

Judy Myers is my new idol. This “Old Lady” is my new inspiration each day, because she’s got me all fired up about barefooting again. Here I was last year, all sad and feeling like my best years were behind me– and then I learned about this 66-year-old gal who was skimming along the water like a spring chicken. So I’m heading down to Florida in the spring to meet Judy and try my hand at barefooting again.

Judy took a little time out of her busy schedule to answer some questions and share some photos of her barefooting. Enjoy!

Judy with her biggest fan and supporter, husband Casey

You started waterskiing at the age of 53 – tell me what it was like.

Actually I was 48 when I started waterskiing. We had gotten out of Dune Buggies and decided to buy a boat (A big boat with a giant wake). We invited friends to come out for the day and they use to water ski when they were younger so decided to bring along their old (wooden) skis. We had a ball but the next day we were so sore even our hair hurt!! I was hooked. I have always been around or on the water and really liked sports so this was perfect for me. I attend clinics, ski schools and skied a lot. I became a good recreational slalom skier and really enjoyed it.

How did you get into barefooting? How old were you? What was that first experience like?

I was 53 and went with a group of girls to “The River” (meaning the Colorado River in Yuma AZ). One of the girls (much younger than I) barefooted and decided we should all try it. The first gal scooted out on the boom and immediately flew off ripping off her barefoot suit and losing her bathing suit top in the process, the second girl did pretty much the same thing but first managed to hang on long enough to almost beat herself to death. It was my turn and after watching what went on before me I almost changed my mind thinking I was much too old for this. I told them they had one chance and that was it. I scooted out, put my feet on the water and again was hooked on a new sport – BAREFOOTING! What a rush to be actually walking on water! That moment literally changed my life!!

How did your barefooting evolve over the years? How did you get into competing? What was your first competition like?

My barefooting started out as just being a recreational sport and has gone from that to I now work at World Barefoot Center with Keith St. Onge and David Small each spring. While there I do the office work and lunches but the reward is I get to ski every day with two of the nicest and best in barefooting in addition to “Swampy” Keith’s coach.

When I first started skiing I went to FL for lessons as being an “old” Physical Education teacher I wanted to learn the proper way and save myself injury. I went to Ron Scarpa’s and it was Ron who convinced me to compete because of my age. It was here I also picked up the name “Old Lady”. Women tend to leave barefooting for various reasons and we felt it may help women realize they could stay in the sport, compete and have fun. After all that is what life is about – having fun and enjoying it to the fullest.

My first competition was in 1999 at the Western Regional’s at Cheyenne Lake in New Berry Springs CA. I did not have a clue about skiing a tournament and what one even had to do. When I arrived the skiers took me under their wing and went out of their way to get me ready!! They realized I needed to score a specific number of points in order to go to Nationals so while waiting for my turn were teaching me things I could try. Dawn Farrell was awesome as was Gina McKee and then my slalom mentor Theresa Hoffman. I had never even attempted to cross the wake before then and Theresa made sure I was going to succeed!

Needless to say with their support I managed to do what I needed to do in order to move on.

Since putting my feet on the water for the first time and falling in love with the sport, I have skied all over the country, made friends all over the world, skied as an independent in the 2003 Worlds, been honored with the Western Region Barefooter of the Year award, had various magazine articles published about me, was in the MSNBC “Fit TO Boom” video, been on the “Today” show and the highest honor of them all was to win the 2009 “Banana George Blair Award for Barefooter of the Year. What an honor! I was speechless and those that know me know that is next to impossible!

What is a typical day of training like?

Usually we get up very early, do some stretching and go out and ski a couple of sets in the morning and again in the afternoon along with dryland practice. When I am at the World Barefoot Center with KSO and Swampy they work with me trying to improve my abilities (I tell KSO I am his project). I will say age has a little drawback here as it does take me longer to “get it” but I am willing to try and give it my all. I have had a few set backs this past couple of years – torn hamstring and then knee surgery but I am working hard in the off season to get in shape and am getting ready for the up and coming “Spring Training”.

How has barefooting changed your life?

Barefooting has made me realize that I can accomplish anything I set my mind to. It has helped keep this 66 year old woman - soon to be 67 - young in heart and spirit and has made me keep myself in good shape and strong. I cannot imagine my life without this!

Can you see why I’m fired up and inspired?

The Best Years of Life Are Still Ahead

Start a Ripple, Inspire Someone Today

Bookmark me!

More »

Tags: Inspirational Stuff by DeafMom
4 Comments »

Welcome to the World, Diego Ruben!

I had the honor of attending the birth of Diego Ruben, who entered this world on Monday evening at 9:40 p.m. in a beautiful homebirth. Congrats to the Martinez family!

Diego’s Birth Story: The Honor of Attending a Birth

Syndicated in newspapers:

Bookmark me!