Home Stretch

I'm finally in the home stretch of spring semester. One more week and I'm done. I'm amazed to have actually come this far and, at the same time, grateful to still be standing. Some days, I've felt that was all I had to be thankful for - the 'still standing' part. I never imagined this endeavor consuming so much of my attention, like a huge, hungry monster devouring every bite of my energy in big, messy mouthfuls. Some days have left me feeling completely defeated, like the day my Fingerspelling teacher signed to me that I should really consider something other than interpreting. Hey, that was encouraging. Or the day my cell phone went off in the middle of a mid-term. (I still bury my face in my hands when I think about that day.) My phone was hidden deep in my bag and I couldn't decide which would be worse, to let it ring a couple more times disrupting the class or to go after it and interrupt my instructor, who was in the middle of signing a story and since she's deaf, was oblivious to the disruption. Yeah, that was a bad day, too.

There are moments when I feel so accomplished, like yesterday when I FINALLY got back two perfect scores on the final quizzes of the semester. There are even more days when I feel like my progress this semester has been less than ideal. My friend, AJ, suggested that I've learned more than I realize. I wonder if he's right about that. I wonder if all the signs I've seen and concepts I've worked to understand are floating around up there somewhere waiting to take shape on my hands.