Better Off Alone (Adopted by Brendon and Sarah Urie)

101. Brendon

I smiled with pride as my daughter dragged me and my parents around her school signing and showing off the things that were important to her. Her science project was still on display in the cabinet outside the gym. She excitedly explained what it was about and what she'd shown her class and the science fair judges. I had to ask her to slow down a few times so I could interpret for my parents. Sarah and I were getting fluent in sign language, but we were still learning and speed was not our forté.

In the gym, she pulled us around to all her friends and teachers explaining to them all, with such excitement, that my parents had come to visit and how they had surprised her by showing up last night. I would trade my fame and fortune in a heartbeat to keep that smile on her face, that light in her eyes. I couldn't stop smiling.

A few of her friends seemed to recognize me for who I am. One if them said his sister was a fan and asked if he could have a picture.

"My sister is going to be so jealous," he laughed. Callie smiled.

Many of Callie's teachers were deaf, but a few were hearing so we were able to easily converse with all of them.

The school's director came over to us and said hello, wished us well for the holidays, spoke about how well Callie was doing in school and what a delight she'd been. I could see she was a little uncomfortable and was probably trying to gauge whether we were still considering legal action against the school because of the situation in September.

Melanie was out of the school, Callie was doing well and had adjusted to the school pretty well. I let the administrator sweat it a little, but eventually let her know everything was alright and we were happy with Callie's progress at the school.

After speaking with the administrator, we went back to the party and watched our daughter with her friends.

"Isn't it a little mean?" My mom said, coming up to me with a glass of what looked like apple juice.

"What?" I asked.

"They're playing Christmas music. The kids and teachers can't hear it. Why would they play music for people who can't hear it?"

I hadn't even noticed the music.

"Probably because the families have hearing people?" I shrugged. "And some of the staff is hearing, too."

Sarah came rushing by, Callie pulling her by her hand. She shrugged as Callie grabbed my band and pulled me along with her. She stopped in front of a short, brown haired woman.

"This is Ms. Paloma!" She said excitedly. "My science teacher."

"Hi," the teacher said as she signed. "Callie has been an absolute delight to teach."

She smiled at Callie, who smiled up at her.

"Thank you we think she's pretty awesome, too," I smiled, tousling Callie's hair. Callie grinned up at me.

"Her project on how she listens to music was incredible. She set up a speaker on her table and showed the kids how the vibrations change with tone and pitch. It was incredible."

"So you said," I laughed.

"Have you considered getting Callie's hearing checked?" The teacher asked.

"We hadn't, actually," I said. I stopped signing. So did the teacher.

"I've noticed a couple of times that Callie has responded to certain loud noises. We use noise in science to demonstrate the differences in hearing loss. It's the unit Callie chose for her science project. I think she may have some residual hearing. She might benefit from getting hearing aids. They won't give her normal hearing, but she might be able to hear more than you're aware."