JENNY’S NEWS

IT WAS MY ANNIVERSARY. THERE ISN'T MUCH I CAN DO, UNFORTUNATELY, SO WE WENT WINDOW SHOPPING AT A RIDICULOUSLY BUSY MALL.

BUT 2 GO, WE HAD 2 PARK. WE EVENTUALLY FOUND A PLACE, BUT IT WASN'T EASY. I WASN'T SURE WHICH OFFENCE BOTHERED ME MORE: A MOTORCYCLE PARKED ON THE LINES 4 HANDICAPPED PARKING (SARCASTIC: "HELLO"—THOSE R THERE 4 A REASON, & I NEED THEM 4 A RAMP 2 GET OUT), OR A MOTORCYCLE THAT ACTUALLY PARKED IN HANDICAPPED PARKING (BET HE/SHE ISN'T HANDICAPPED, OR CAN AT LEAST WALK).

I MADE THIS PLEA B4, & I'LL SAY IT AGAINl 4 THE SAKE OF THOSE WHO CAN'T GET OUT IF WE DON'T HAVE THOSE HANDICAPPED PARKING SPOTS, DON'T PARK THERE, ESP. IF U CAN DO WHAT WE WISH WE COULD DO: WALK. & IF U PARK BY HANDICAPPED PARKING, CAREFUL NOT 2 PARK ON THE LINES –MANY R ALREADY 2 THIN.

I REALIZED THESE TRIGGERS 2 MY PBA RECENTLY:

I'VE LEARNED MANY TRICKS 2 STOP MY TEARS, WHEN I''M SIGNALED A WARNING SIGN THAT TEARS R COMING, BUT I HAVE 2 BE VERY CAUTIOUS & NOT ALLOW ME 2 BE EMOTIONAL, RT. B4 I GO SOMEWHERE EMOTIONAL, LIKE, SAY, CHURCH—OTHERWISE, MY EMOTIONS WILL BE OUT OF WHACK, & LAUGHTER/TEARS THAT I NORMALLY COULD CONTROL, I CAN'T CONTROL, AS WELL.

I HAVE ALSO DISCOVERED THAT I LAUGH HARDER AT TIMES BECAUSE I HEAR SOME1 EXPRESS PRECISELY WHAT I'D THOUGHT, BUT WASN'T GOING 2 BOTHER 2 FINGERSPELL IT. (SOMETIMES, THOUGH, IT ISN'T SAID, SO I LAUGH 2 MYSELF, AS I "THINK SOMETHING FUNNY IN MY HEAD.")

"Words come more readily to girls. Even as adults, men use fewer words than women. Studies have shown that, on average, women speak about 20,000 words in a day. Depending on the study, men use 7,000 to 10,000."I FOUND THIS EXTREMELY INTERESTING. BEING GENOROUS, I BET I TYPE LESS THAN 2,000 WORDS, &, ACCORDING 2 THIS STUDY, I THINK 20,000. YET, 2 MEN, WHO USE ½ OR LESS THAN ½ OF WHAT'S IN MY HEAD, I APPEAR WORDY, EVEN THOUGH I'M VERY BRIEF 4 A WOMAN. & IF I SIGN, I'M EVEN BRIEFER—OFTEN, ACTIONS ALONE HAVE 2 SUFFICE, OR 1 WORD NEEDS 2 BE TRANSLATED INTO A COMPLETE SENTENCE. I'M GENEROUS IF I SIGN A FULL SENTENCE, BUT I'M LIMITED TO 3 SENTENCES 4 THOSE LISTENING (IMAGINE HOW TIRED U'D BE MENTALLY, IF I SIGNED OUT EVERY LETTER OF THIS POST—SOMETIMES IT'S BETTER IF THOSE LETTERS R TYPED INDIVIDUALLY, BUT U CAN READ AT YOUR OWN PACE). I'VE ALSO FOUND THAT IF I'M THINKING 2 CONTRASICTORY THINGS (LIKE "WHAT A NEAT THING?" & "BUT "HOW DO I TURN IT ON?"), I HAVE 2 FORGO THE POSITIVE STATEMENT ("FLUFF," REALLY) , & ASK THE QUES. ("HOW DO I TURN IT ON?"), 2 EASE MY MIND.

IF I WERE 2 SIGN A FUNNY STORY, I MAY SIGN, "I DROPPED A JUNIOR MINT, & A FRIEND ATE IT!"

BUT MY HEAD THINKS THIS (LIMITED BY TYPING):
"AT A FRIEND'S HOUSE, I PUT A JUNIOR MINT IN MY MOUTH & TRIED 2 MOVE IT 4WARD 2 BITE IT W/MY FRONT TEETH. IT SHOT OUT OF MY MOUTH, WHERE A FRIEND HAD A PILE OF JUNIOR MINTS ON THE FLOOR!
I DIED LAUGHING, PRECISELY WHEN A BABY TOOTED, SO AT FIRST, SHE THOUGHT I TOOTED 2! BY THE TIME SHE FIGURED OUT WHY I WAS REALLY LAUGHING, IT WAS EATEN! THE REST OF THE NIGHT, IF I LOOKED AT HER, OR A JUNIOR MINT, I DIED LAUGHING!" (TRUE STORY)IT TAKES SOOO LONG 2 TYPE OR FINGERSPELL STUFF, SO IT’S FUNNY INITIALLY, BUT BY THE TIME I SAY IT, THE MOMENT HAS LONG SINCE PAST, SO I JUST GET A “COURTESY CHUCKLE.” MUCH I’VE RESORTED 2 JUST THINKING & APPRECIATING MY OWN HUMOR, & HAVING A “PERSONAL LAUGHING MOMENT.” WHEN I DO, & SUDDENLY LAUGH, MY CAREGIVER, CARA REPEATS A “FIA PHRASE”: "I’M THINKING SOMETHING FUNNY IN MY HEAD."

IT’S SUCH A BUMMER THAT MY HUMOR & WIT HAVE BEEN SOMETHING THAT HAVE BEEN KINDA HIDDEN WITH EVERYONE (EXCEPT VIA EMAIL—BUT, EVEN THEN, I HAVE 2 BE CATIUOUS—ESP. IF I FEEL SARCASTIC, SINCE THERE'S NO TONE IN EMAIL, OR EVEN W/ASL, & A JOKE CAN BE READ AS JUST PLAIN MEAN). IT’S DIFFICULT CAUSE SO MUCH OF HUMOR IS IN TIMING & VOCAL INFLECTION, SO SOME OF IT IS KINDA LOST WHEN YOU HAVE TO FINGERSPELL IT OUT, LIKE, AS MY SISTER PUT IT SO WELL (& I FOUND IT ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS!),: “F-S – OH WAIT, NOT S – A – R – T. LET’S SEE, F-A-R-T…. UMMM. OHH! FART! OH, THAT’S FUNNY. HAHA.” INSTEAD OF JUST HEARING AND LAUGHING.

PLUS, A LOT OF TIMES OTHERS EVENTUALLY OFTEN SAY A VARIATION OF THE FUNNY THOUGHT I ALREADY HAD, BUT DON'T SAY IT, BECAUSE I KNOW OTHERS GET BURNED OUT ON SPELLING (EVEN I DO), SO IF IT’S NOT SOMETHING I PHYSICALLY NEED, THEY WANT 2 MOVE ON. WHICH IS 2 BAD, REALLY, CAUSE THEY'RE MISSING "ME" THEN. BUT I CAN ALSO "HIDE" "ME," ESP. IF SIGNING IS 2 HARD, DUE 2 A "WEAK" DAY. UNFORTUNATELY, MOST DON’T TAKE (OR HAVE) THE TIME/ENERGY FOR EMOTIONAL NEEDS. LUCKILY I GET "FRESH BLOOD" (MY CAREGIVER) 2-3 TIMES A WEEK, WHO CAN DEVOTE TIME 2 MY EMOTIONAL NEEDS, & IT'S AMAZING, REALLY, HOW WELL SHE'S GOTTEN 2 KNOW THE ME INSIDE, YET NEVER KNEW ME B4 MY STROKE! BUT I KNOW IT'S A DIFFICULT BALANCING TASK – 2 FIND A PLACE WHERE I AM BOTH SATISFIED WITH PHYSICAL & EMOTIONAL NEEDS, SO 3 CHEERS 4 "FRESH BLOOD!" LOL

HOWEVER, IF OTHERS R THERE, I CAN SAY MORE W/MARK’S HELP…W/ HIM I USUALLY ONLY NEED 2 SAY A FEW SHORT WORDS, SOMETIMES JUST A LETTER OR 2, & HE FIGURES IT OUT, & SHARES IT (WAY BETTER THAN I COULD, SINCE I GIVE THE ABBREVIATED VERSION, & LAUGH ALONE 4 EVERY LETTER, AS THE LISTNER ATTEMPTS 2 FIGURE OUT WHAT’S SO FUNNY!) MARK KNOWS MY STORIES & MIND SO WELL (ESP. AFTER SPENDING SO MUCH TIME WITH ME, SPELLING OUT MY THOUGHTS) & HE KNOWS MY HUMOR, SO IF THERE'S A CHANCE 2 CATCH ON, MARK OFTEN CATCHES ON SOONER & DOESN’T ALWAYS NEED ME 2 SPELL IT ALL OUT 4 HIM. THIS CAN ALLOW THE BIGGER LAUGH I SOMETIMES WANT/NEED.

IT WAS MEALTIME, & MK WAS BUSY. ZACH COOKED RAMEN, FED THE GIRLS & HIM SOME, THEN, WHEN I WAS SURE IT HAD TIME 2 COOL ENOUGH 4 ME, HE CUT & FED ME! SO SWEET! HE ROCKS!

IT WASN'T PERFECT (I HAD A SHOWER), BUT I'M USED 2 WAITING UNTIL MK CAN FEED ME, WHICH CAN BE LATE IF HE'S REALLY BUSY. I DON'T MIND—I RARELY FEEL HUNGER PAINS, BUT I'VE FELT THEM MORE LATELY, AT THE 2 MEALS I DO EAT.

THE KIDS R USED 2 DOING MORE THAN AVERAGE KIDS. I KNOW I NEED THEM 2 BE EXTRA RESPONSIBLE, AS MUCH, OR MORE THAN, MK DOES. THE MORNING I ALONE GOT THEM READY 4 SCHOOL, WOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE W/O THEM BEING SUPER RESPONSIBLE—THE TRICK IS 2 EXPECT MORE & DON’T BABY THEM. OTHERWISE THEY BACK TRACK.

AS A MOM, I USED 2 THINK THEY "DESERVED IT" WHEN SOME1 BABY'D THEM. BUT NOW I C IT IS LIKE ME: IT'S TONS EASIER 2 JUST ASK & HAVE SOME1 DO SOMETHING 4 ME, BUT IF IT'S WITHIN MY CAPABILITY, THE STRUGGLE CAN BE WORTH IT, & I CAN ACCOMPLISH MORE THAN I THOUGHT POSSIBLE. ACCORDING 2 MY MRI, I BELIEVE I SHOULD JUST BLINK…IT’S BAD. BUTI DIDN’T KNOW IT WAS THAT BAD, SO I KEPT TRYING. I KNEW I WAS LOCKED-IN, BUT NOT KNOWING WHY—IT GAVE ME THE ABILITY 2 STRETCH MYSELF, SINCE I HAD NO REASON 2 DOUBT MYSELF. (MY FAV. QOUTE IS "Courage does not always roar. Sometimes, it is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, “I will try again tomorrow”. — Anonymous) KIDS CAN BE THAT WAY, & LOVE THE CHANCE 2 BE THE "ADULT." THE TRICK NOW, IS 2 NOT FRUSTRATE THEM, BY STRETCHING 2 FAR, & BEYOND THEIR CAPABILITIES! (I'VE FELT THAT 2, & IT'S AN AWFUL FEELING!)