Better Off Alone (Adopted by Brendon and Sarah Urie)

42. Brendon

We had People Magazine come a few days later. They took photos around the house and photos of Callie, and photos of us with Callie.

We told our story and demonstrated how Callie can appreciate music. We showed them how we made sure Callie knew when someone rang the doorbell or if an alarm was going off, or even if someone knocks on her bedroom door.

We explained how we keep Callie safe and how we are learning to communicate. The crew asked to learn a little sign language and someone took photos of Callie surrounded by crew members using sign language. She was grinning from ear to ear. It was adorable.

Right after the People article was shot, Anna started on Callie's room. We decided that was as good a time as any to take a family trip. Since Callie didn't have a passport yet, we decided to stay in The US and so we flew to New York and took Callie to New York City, and toured around the city.

People recognized me and Callie and they were all really great.

Most nights on our trip, Callie was asleep before we got back to the hotel. I would carry her up to the room, place her in bed, and cover her up, close the door and Sarah and I would retreat to our room.

In the mornings, Callie usually was awake before us and we'd find her quietly reading or playing on her Switch.

After the People article came out, we were asked for a couple of interviews while we were in New York. Callie was unsure but agreed to one and one only. We'd go on the Today show, I'd perform one song and we'd interview with the hosts.

Callie was nervous but the hosts made her feel welcome and put her at ease.

I performed a newer song just me and a guitar and a borrowed drummer, and then the hosts came over.

"That was amazing. Now, we heard there's been an addition to your family. You and your wife Sarah recently adopted a 12-year-old girl?"

They showed the picture of the three of us from the People article.

"That's right. Sarah and I adopted our daughter Callie this summer. And she is just amazing. Smart and funny, talented," I smiled thinking about my daughter literally standing four feet away.

"We also heard that Callie has never heard your music. Not a single song?"

"Also true," I replied.

"How is that possible?"

"Well, would you like to meet Callie? And we can explain how she's managed not to hear a note or lyric of my music?"

"We'd love to meet Callie!" The host said. I waved Callie over, and she came walking over with a nervous grin on her face.

"Callie!" The hosts said. "Good morning. Welcome! It's nice to meet you."

Callie signed 'hello' and 'nice to meet you, too'.

"As you can see, Callie uses sign language," I said. "Callie is Deaf, which is why she's never heard a single one of my songs."

I signed as I was talking. We also had an interpreter.

"But we heard that Callie has a great appreciation for music," the host said. "So how does that work?"

The interpreter signed for Callie.

"Should we show them?" I asked Callie. She nodded.

We walked over to the big subwoofer by the performance area. It was pretty tall, so I picked Callie up to sit her on it.

"Ready?" I asked her. She smiled and nodded.

I checked the levels on the sound and asked their sound engineer to check we weren't going to blow the equipment up. With everything set up, I went and spoke with the drummer.

"Start with a slow beat on the kick drum, ok?"

He nodded and started.

"Callie? What's the beat?" I asked her.

She had her back to the drummer so she couldn't see what he was playing. She'd also not see when I picked up a guitar.

She patted the beat on her leg. The hosts were interested.

"Okay," I said.  "I'm going to add some guitar, and we'll speed up the tempo a bit, yeah?"

I turned to the drummer. His name is Lance, by the way.

We had, obviously rehearsed this. I played the opening bars to Victorious. Callie used her right hand to motion my guitar's resonance and her left to pat out the drum beat.

"Do you know what song that was?" I asked Callie after getting her attention. She thought for a second and finger spelled "Victorious?"

I nodded and smiled. I saw Sarah off in the wings smiling, too.

"Okay, one more," I said. I had the drummer play the opening to 'Tear in My Heart'. I watched as she frowned.

"Not yours," she said.

I laughed.

"Nope. Not mine. You're right. Do you know who?"

"Again?" She asked. Lance played the opening again. She frowned. I knew she knew the song, so I told Lance to play the bridge. Callie's eyes lit up.

"Twentyone Pilots!" She spelled. "Tear in My Heart!"

"That was incredible!" The host said as I helped Callie off the speaker.

"So, what are you doing? What does being up on the speaker do?"

Callie started signing away, too fast for me. Thankfully, the interpreter took over.

"Basically, I can feel the beat of the drums and sometimes, I can feel the guitar. It's sort of, lighter than the drum."

"That's interesting. What about movies? What's your favourite movie?" They asked her.

"The Nightmare Before Christmas," Callie said.

"What about movies with music? How do you enjoy the music in a movie?"

"Closed captions for the words, and Dad gave me a Bluetooth speaker that I hold and can feel the best and pace of the songs."

"That's pretty incredible!  Do you play any instruments?"

"No," Callie said. "I can never tell if I'm on key or not."

My brat. I laughed. The hosts were confused for a second and then clued in and laughed.

"You have a great sense of humour," they told Callie. "It was great meeting you and learning how you and your family enjoy music. Would you come back with your dad next time we have him on?"

Callie looked at me and shrugged.

"Yeah, maybe. But can I come back if you have twentyone pilots on?"

"Are they your favourite band?"

"Sort of. Josh drums really hard. It's so much easier to feel," Callie said. "Dad's music is too slow."

I laughed and pretended to be hurt. But I hugged Callie so she would know I wasn't really upset.

After the segment filmed and we were getting cleaned up, the hosts came and thanked us for coming. They gave Callie some swag - a t-shirt, a stuffed bear and a water bottle, told her she was delightful and thanked us again for coming. We went for breakfast once we were done because we hadn't eaten yet.