I am like an onion....
After High School, I decided that I wanted to be a court interpreter for the Deaf. I enrolled in Sign Language classes and began my quest. Once I got the basics, I began attending Deaf Community events at local coffee shops. It was the most amazing thing! You would walk into the coffee shop and it would be PACKED with people, all signing and not saying a word. I would sit down, and sign.. "Hi my name is Misty, I am learning sign language in school, I would love to chat with you" (That was the one phrase I had down pat). The deaf community was so welcoming and I would sit for hours and hours signing with everyone. While I was relishing in my new passion I found that the hardest part about learning a new language is getting practice. So besides attending events, another way I got practice was to sign all the license plate numbers and letters while I commuted back and forth to work (~3 hrs each way). Although there a few awkward moments where I looked like I was throwing up gang signs, all in all it helped! At the time I was obsessing over the deaf community, I was also working at a Christian retail store. This one night a cute girl came into my store with her boyfriend. I saw her sign to him and I stopped dead in my tracks. I made my way over to her and we started talking. She told me her boyfriend was deaf and so she was in the process of learning sign language. THATS IT I THOUGHT!!!! I need a deaf boyfriend.. one slightly more attractive than hers, but nonetheless deaf. I would become an expert signer and be even more accepted and loved in the deaf community. Thankfully for the deaf community after months of pining after him, this phase (as they all do) passed before I found my deaf man in shining armor.