She Did It

At approximately noon today, Hilary will have officially completed high school. Not unexpected, and certainly not a big deal for the average kid. However, Hilary isn't your average kid. Hilary was born deaf. Unaided, she hears nothing. Hilary has been attending school since she was 3 years old and her academic "career" has taken her to Phoenix Day School for the Deaf, Central Institute for the Deaf, Moog Center for Deaf Education, St. Joseph's Institute for the Deaf, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic School and finally, our public high school down the street.

Hilary introduced me to the world of special needs, special ed, speech therapy, occupational therapy, early intervention, IEPs, sign language, total communication, oral communication, hearing aids, and cochlear implants, to name a few. More importantly, through Hilary I learned that, as a parent, I would make whatever sacrifices were necessary and do whatever it took to give her the best I could. The best chance at hearing, the best chance at communication and the best chance at learning to successfully function in a world where the majority of people hear and talk. Fifteen years ago, I never would have imagined that in giving Hilary the best I could, she would lead us to a City where we would need to be for Jack. Life has a funny way of working out like it should.

Without a doubt, Hilary's happiest years were in St. Louis where she spent 6 1/2 years attending school with her deaf peers. Our move back home to Arizona was necessitated by many factors, but I will always carry a little guilt for taking Hilary away from the place she was happiest. Yet, Hilary never complained. She just went along with it, did her best and got through junior high and high school completely on her own, without any intervention or support services. (not because she wasn't entitled to services, but because she didn't need them.) I'm extremely proud of what Hilary has accomplished and, while I wouldn't be honest if I didn't admit that there have been many times that Hilary has frustrated me beyond belief, she really has done remarkably well given the challenges she has faced. At the end of the day, Hilary likes who Hilary is and that's all that really matters. That is success. Granted, she still needs to find a way to support herself and move out of my house someday!

Hilary has many extraordinary talents. She is an amazing story teller (writer), artist and animator. Hilary has dreams of being a cartoonist and/or animator. Just recently (and rather late in the process, I might add), Hilary applied to Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY. RIT has both a large deaf population and degrees in film and animation and illustration. It's the perfect place for Hilary. Hopefully, she'll be accepted this year. If not, Hilary will begin her journey down the road of Plan B (and C, and D, and . . . ) I'm confident that however things work out .... they'll work out.

Well, enough rambling and without further ado ... here is a montage chronicling the last 18 years of Hilary's life. Ironically, I chose the songs because of what they say, yet Hilary won't be able to understand the words when she listens to/watches the video. (I'll give her the written words to the songs so she knows what they say, but it's not the same. Then again, it's all she knows).

I hope you enjoy it.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com