Hi Everyone,

I have been pretty bad about blogging lately. The combination of school, work, doctors appointments, and everything else has been pretty tiring. I have also really discovered the Deaf community here in Toronto and as a result I have been out meeting, and networking, with people every chance I get!

I have also been distracted with writing other things. I wanted to write a detailed recount of the last several months. The last few months have been the most trying, humerouse, interesting months of my life. The people I have encountered have changed my life forever - sometimes by being my friend, sometimes by giving me life altering medical news, sometimes by presenting me with challenges I have no idea how to over come. Regardless the past months have been filled with emotional ups and downs.

Reflection has been a key theme in my last several blog posts. I think it is because the present is still difficult to process and the future is beyond predictible for me. I simply do not know where I will be physicially, emotionally, mentally, or medically next week, let alone next year! This can be hard for me because I like to plan. I need to plan. Without the ability to plan for the future I find myself stuck in the past.

While there are many things happening in the present for me I cannot comment on them right now. I need to give those things time to become history before I can truly look over them with enough consideration to write about them.

As life with my current hearing loss and hearing aids begins to settle I have begun to wonder if this blog is still relevant, if it is still interesting for people. I think now, more than ever, this blog is important. Now I am beyond the struggle, and the adapting period. I have moved on with my life and this blog is my opportnity to speak about that. To speak about how my life has evolved and continues as a result of my hearing. Being Deaf, as well as deaf, has greatly shaped where I am now and what my concerns, ambitions, and goals are. Without my d/Deafness I would be in a very different place, doing very different things. I would be fighting for different acceptance, and I would be presenting myself to the world in a different way.

I think looking at where I am now, I am happy that I am Deaf. I am happy I can't hear and the new opportunities that it has given me. That may sound backwards to some, but it is true. There are so many opportunities for me as a strong Deaf female activist and there are so many bridges to cross. My life is far from limited and I can see this blog evolving and the focus shifting. Perhaps now I will focus more on my life as a Deaf person, not my life as a deaf person. While the two aren't mutually exclusive the focus can shift, and I think it will.

I guess we will all just have to wait and see what shape this blog takes in the future!

That is all for now!

Jenny