The new Regular Katie.

It's hard to believe the places I've been in only a year's time. In August 2013, I was sitting in my academic advisor's office at the University of Georgia, debating internally on which upper level elective I should take. I'd always had a knack for creative writing, or painting, so I considered taking an English or an art class to fulfill my requirement. On the other hand, ASL looks good on grad school applications. If I could sign a little, maybe I would stand out among the other speech-language pathology applicants. But...I'm so uncoordinated, I thought to myself. Regular Katie is awkward enough, so I can only imagine what Signing Katie will look like... I told myself to stop being so lazy, and worried, and afraid to go outside of my comfort zone, so I "bit the bullet" and didn't change my schedule. I did, however, whine a lot internally about being assigned a random new teacher who had no reputation at UGA and about whom I couldn't learn anything from previous students (I laugh at myself, here).

Day one of class came, and my world began to change. I was positively mesmerized. I felt I had been missing out on a whole world that was resting just below the surface, waiting for me to break the tension. I had walked through the wardrobe and stumbled into Narnia. Suddenly, a passion came alive that had lain dormant somewhere inside of me. I devoured every scrap of information I could on ASL and the Deaf. Deaf people have an incredible, visual language complete with its own syntax, grammar, and rules. The Deaf are expressive, and open, and passionate, and very blunt. Deaf people (big "D") have their own culture, values, and rules for living. In the DEAF-WORLD, there are no strangers--only people who haven't yet met.

My curiosity began to transform into passion, and while my passion grew, my trajectory changed.
I came home from a silent dinner one evening, went up to my room, and burst into tears. My path had changed, and while the change had been wonderful, it was kind of screwing up my "life plan". You see, I am a planner. I like things to be just so. I like order, lists, and control. "Go with the flow" people are my personal heroes, because I belabor every life decision. I tried ways to make ASL fit into my grad school program. I visited Gallaudet University, a college in Washington D.C. for Deaf students, and attempted to figure out a way to attend grad school there for SLP. I accepted, finally, that interpreting was the new path, the new "plan". Today, I am working for a student life department at a school for the Deaf, and I can see interpreting on the horizon, somewhere down this road.

Deaf people have taught me a lot about myself. They have taught me to be open, and real, and accepting. Pretenses are a waste of time and energy. I would rather get to know and love people as they really are, and I want them to do the same for me. I have always been a person who strives to love and care for the people in my life well; I am extraordinarily thankful that I get to love a whole new group of beautiful people. The Deaf have shared their time and their hearts with me. I count my blessings daily.

I look forward to what is to come with expectation and excitement! Life, I've learned, does not have to be carefully executed, all-or-nothing, with every duck in a row and every star aligned. As a wise friend repeatedly reminds me (and knowing me requires infinite patience and grace), do what makes you happy. Loving the Deaf community, and signing like the awkward Regular Katie that I am, makes me very happy indeed.