Ageless Passions by Karen Putz

Author: Karen Putz

  • ZVRS and Barefooting, Crammed in Two Days

    I arrived at the World Barefoot Center on Sunday evening in time to have dinner with Swampy, Lauren Lindeman and a great group of younger skiers from all over the world, including A. J. Porreca, a 17-year-old barefooter from Willowbrook, Il who is featured on the cover of Water Skier magazine.  After a great dinner, I headed back to the Z Team home that I was staying at.

    At the ZVRS headquarters, we filmed a VCO Plus video all day.  Because Ann Marie Mickelson and I are no actresses, we ended up with a lot of shots for the blooper file.  Hollywood will not be calling us soon.  Nonetheless, we had a blast and after the first half hour of filming, we kicked off our shoes.  Roger Vass put me on a cardboard platform so that Ann Marie wouldn’t tower over me.  I begged Roger to airbrush 30 pounds off of me but no amount of money could convince him.

    Joined the Z Team for dinner:

    Then I went for a walk on the beach at dusk and stayed out until it was pitch black.  Just a sliver of the moon and a bright star shone in the sky.  Turned off the hearing aids and walked in dead silence– every now and then it’s nice to tune out and just enjoy the visual stuff.  The house I was staying at was a few steps from the beach.

    Yesterday morning, we finished up some filming and I had this awful urge to go barefooting.  I paged A. J. Albrecht, who also works for ZVRS as a Z Specialist and asked him if he was available for the afternoon.  I’m working the HLAA conference the next four days and Texas the weekend after, so I figured I could play hooky for the afternoon. The only catch– he was two hours away.  Did I really want to drive four hours in one afternoon?

    Heck yeah.

    And I’m glad I did.  A. J. and I had an amazing afternoon on the water.  I started off on the boom, back to the basics.  Get up, sit back down on the water, get up again.  Over and over.  Here’s A. J. showing me what to do:

    I asked A. J. to teach me how to barefoot on one foot — something that eluded me as a teen.  Every time I would lift a foot, I’d end up face first in the water.  Kicking off a ski was tough for me.

    My first attempt ended in a face plant.

    Here we go again, I thought.

    My second attempt ended in success– I shifted my weight and lifted my foot up!  Did a couple more of those and rode a little longer to make sure it wasn’t a fluke.  That felt good!  The last several weeks at the gym, I practiced  balancing on one foot and I guess that paid off.

    I switched places with A. J. and drove while he showed me his stuff.  He jumped out of the boat on to the boom while I drove– take a look:

    The next trick– a backwards deep water start and then he got up barefooting backwards, then flipped around from a back-to-front:

    A. J. is a master on the chair ski/hydrofoil, I was in awe of all the flips he can do.   Take a look:

    I worked on the deep water start on the five-foot extension off the boom and had no problem getting up each time.  I moved to the back of the boat on the long line and out of five attempts, I got up once for a short run and promptly landed face first again.  The long line continues to be a battling beast for me.  A. J. turned around to take a picture and of course, I crashed at that moment:

    When we finished, a storm was brewing so I went back to the boom and practiced skiing in rough water back to the landing.  We pulled the boat out and covered it just as it began to pour.

    I hit the road back to Tampa and sat in the airport until ten p.m.  Needless to say, I conked out on the plane.  I sure hope my snoring didn’t bother anyone.

  • Life on Spin Cycle

    I looked at my calendar the other day and sighed. The entire summer is booked solid between work, conferences, travel and the kid’s activities.  When the kids were little, summer used to stretch out before us like an idle odyssey. I remember when the biggest event of the day was dragging out the swimming pool and filling it up for the toddlers to splash in. My neighbors, Barb and Denise, would bring their kids over and we’d sit in the backyard and chat for hours. Some days, we would order pizza and sit out and talk until the bugs drove us inside.

    Barb moved away to California and the kids are now teens. Denise and I both work from home, so we try and grab a gab session here and there, but our visits are far too few lately.

    I don’t know how this happened, but life has ramped up to spin cycle. 

    Like a washing machine, it started out so slowly that I almost didn’t notice it.  I picked up one part-time job, then a full-time job– added a book club, another women’s group, a couple of writing assignments and then volunteer work. To top it off, I started writing a book.

     

    And like the washing machine, I found myself smack dab in the middle of spin cycle and wondering how to hit the “off” button.  The problem with going around and around in a circle is that you can’t stop yourself. You’re spinning so fast that you’re glued to the walls of the machine. The thing is, if you don’t get out of spin cycle, eventually something is going to wear out and stop working. 

    I stuck my hand out recently to try and stop the spin. Sitting in my inbox was an invitation to a committee that three years I ago, I would have jumped at to be involved in.  After a lot of thought, I graciously said no and actually felt good about it. I also said no to some volunteer activities and some other requests for my time.

    Unfortunately, my calendar is still booked for the summer and there isn’t much I can do about what I’ve committed to. Work has to be done, the kids have to be driven here or there, and there’s the graduations and weddings to attend.  Fortunately, I’ve booked in some fun, some barefooting and some enjoyable writing.

    Now I just have to figure out how to slow the spin down to a gentle tumble. 

  • I Married a Good Man

    I was sitting in the car repair shop this morning with my laptop on a table, getting ready to join a meeting using the Z4 videophone.  Two ladies sat nearby and one of them began talking to me.  I looked up and said, “Oh, sorry, I didn’t hear what you said, I’m deaf.”

    She laughed and pointed to the hearing aids perched in her ear.  “I am too, she said with a smile.”   The other lady scooted over and we began talking about videophones and webcams and I showed them the Z4 from ZVRS and explained my job.  The lady with the hearing aids had to leave and I continued to chat with the other lady.

    “I’m Sally Goodman,” she said.  “I like to tell people that I married a good man.”

    I laughed. 

    “Well, I’m Karen Putz,” I said.  “I usually tell people that I married a putz.”

    She let out a big a laugh. 

    We talked and found some neat connections between us.  Her husband is hard of hearing and her brother-in-law and several other relatives are deaf and hard of hearing.  Her daughter is an author of several books, and currently working on a non-fiction book.  Her great-grandfather founded the town of Battle Creek, Michigan. 

    She asked me if I was born deaf and I explained the deaf gene in my family and how I went from hard of hearing to deaf after a fall while barefoot waterskiing.  She shared her story of being diagnosed with MS twenty years ago and how she worked her way out of a wheelchair and back into great health again.  We exchanged emails and a hug before parting ways.

    I’m always amazed at the folks that I cross paths with in daily life– I know these are not just chance encounters, but interactions that are rich with learning and growth. 

    Every day, that circle of life just grows bigger and bigger.

  • Happy Birthday, Dave!

    Eighteen years ago in August, my life changed.  I know you’re mentally calculating and saying, “Wait a minute, David just turned seventeen today, what’s this about eighteen years ago?”  I know my friend Sue is reading this with a smile, because she got pregnant on the same night that I did and we always laugh at the memory.  Ok, so technically it was nine months before today, but you get the idea.

    David and Sue’s son, Alex, were born exactly a week apart, down to the exact minute of their birth.  Alex arrived first, and I went nuts for an entire week waiting for David to make his arrival into the world.  David was born by cesarean, thanks to a doctor who I suspect was simply impatient to get back to his rounds.  I ended up with an allergic reaction to the epidural and broke out in hives, which the doctor blamed on the hospital sheets.  It wasn’t until I had the same reaction to Lauren’s birth and a different doctor, that we realized the epidural medicine was the cause.

    As a kiddo, David was my Energizer Bunny, and I’m always so thankful that he was my first born because I had the energy back then to keep up with him.  Both Grandmas often handed him back with a sigh after babysitting him, they were exhausted just chasing him around.   I can remember many battles of stuffing him in his car seat and hoping that he’d stay in one place but only to turn around and find him dancing in the back of the van.  I can’t even begin to count the many times that I lost him in the mall while shopping with Sue.  Alex would be sitting contentedly in his stroller and we’d have to take off yet again to hunt for David.

    In the photo above, we had just returned home from the hospital after getting six stitches.  David was riding around on Joe’s back and fell off.  He landed kaput into the corner of a Lego model that he had just put together.

    When Lauren came along, David was the ultimate big brother.  He did everything with his sister in tow.  I think one of the reasons he likes to cook today is because we spent so much time making cookies and brownies just to keep him in one place for a few minutes.  The most memorable moment was the time that he and Lauren ran their crayons all over the kitchen wall and the day that he threw a brand new book into the bathtub.

    By the time Steven came along, David was the helpful older brother and the Energizer battery started to wind down a little bit.  I say just a “little bit,” because he would still do stuff that would make my hair stand on end, like the time that he put the slide on top of the picnic table so that he could “get a better ride into the pool.”

    So Happy Birthday to my seventeen-year-old– I cannot believe that you are just one year away from being an adult and soon to fly off to college.  It’s been seventeen amazing years and I’m looking forward to watching you grow even more.

  • Find a Mentor to Get You Where You Want to Go

     

    Yeah, that’s me on the top left, hanging on for dear life as we formed a pyramid on Christie Lake for the first time when I was a teen.  My mentor is on the bottom in the middle– Brent Greenwood.  Brent is a guy who popped into my life out of the blue,  and he taught me a lot about barefooting and pyramids in a very short amount of time.  We had only spent two days together, but he taught me something that will stay with me for the rest of my life: visualize yourself doing what you want to do from the start to the finish,  practice it, and you can make it happen.

    Brent asked me if I wanted to learn how to do a deep-water start for barefooting.  I was definitely game!  He got out a rope and we practiced on dry land.  He told me to go home and practice it in my mind and we would try it the next morning.  Brent went first and demonstrated how to hang on to the rope and then get up barefooting.  As I watched him on the water, I pictured myself doing every step.  It took the third try to make it happen, but there I was, feet first wrapped on the rope and then suddenly, standing on the water zipping along.

    As I look back on my life, I realize it has been filled with mentors every step of the way.  When we seek out those who know more than us, we can learn from them and in turn, we grow.  Every time I have a new goal or a new dream, I seek out folks who have walked the journey before me and I learn from them.  I ask questions:

    “How did you get to be where you are today?”

    “What are some of the challenges you faced on your journey and how can I learn from them?”

    “What knowledge do I need to acquire to get where I want to go?”

    “What tools do I need to use to achieve my goal?”

    As a person who is deaf, the internet has been a wonderful place to find mentors.  Blogs, Facebook and Twitter have been the tools that I use the most to get to know people.  I find that people generally do love to share their knowledge– you have to build a relationship first.  Some of the most amazing people I know who have shared their wisdom with me, I have yet to meet them face-to-face!

    So if you’ve got a dream that’s brewing and you’re not sure where you’re going, find a mentor to help guide you.  Friends will tell you what to do, mentors will help you figure out what you need to do to accomplish your dream.

  • Dr. Suzette Garay, National Speaker, Instructor

    Dr. Suzette Garay is the owner of Baby Signs 4 U and is a national speaker.  She was the first Hispanic Deaf woman to obtain a Ph.D.

    Sign Language Classes at Apple Ridge Academy

    The Benefits of Using Sign Language with Preverbal Babies 

    Tell me about your job.  How did you get into this line of work?

    My primary work is teaching.  I teach the following Psychology, ASL, and Parent/Infants (hearing pre-verbal babies) to utilize sign language before they speak.  My desires to teach be it in a school, college, and/or private practice has been a long-standing dream of mine since I was in high school.  My decision to become a teacher comes from experiencing my own personal frustrations, lack of access to information, and/or discrimination to participate in opportunities due to poor special education services or no interpreters llowed in my classes back then in 1970’s.

    What is the best part of your job?

    Seeing how children are inspired, motivated, and determined to excel after knowing it is possible (role model) when their teacher standing before them has done it.

    What are some of the challenges of your job?

    -Convincing parents that all things are possible even if their child cannot hear or has something lacking or limiting them learning in the same way most children learn. 

    -Convincing people that I am worthy of my expertise when it comes to making profound decisions on a child’s life or deciding whether or not a child can learn with the best informed-choices that are available.  Sometimes, people have preconceived notions of what children with disabilities can or cannot do.

    -Avoiding the labels of being “exceptional”, “gifted”, “genius”, “having all the answers,” etc…  sometimes people try to put me on high pedestal for being the ideal Deaf, woman with Ph.D., First Latina, and/or overcoming adversity when I just want to be that “normal” person who worked hard to achieve what I had to overcome.

    -Meeting the needs or demands of the expectations people assume you can provide all the answers or hope for their child in need. So many people are desperate for your services or inspiration, but you can’t meet everyone’s need. Your only one person with so many hours available to help others.  Sometimes, you have to take care of yourself first before you can take care of others.

    What was it like growing up deaf/hard of hearing?

    My journey as a deaf child was very unusual than most would people would endure in their childhood.  First, even though I was born profoundly deaf, my deafness was not identified till I was almost 13 years old.  This is mostly due to the fact that I was shuffled through the welfare/foster care system which moved me in and out of more than 16 foster homes.  This means that on the average I lived with the families approximately 90 days or so.  When there was an opportunity to consider a possible hearing loss I was already moving onto another home.  Those first 13 years of my life were an incredible journey of exploring, learning, and understanding the world around me.

    After the 13 years, I finally had the right to be deaf and it changed the perceptions of how others would view me.  Some were good and some were bad perceptions of what I could or couldn’t do as a deaf child.  I loved music, in the sense of feeling the vibrations and often would be in the hands of authorities for “disturbing the neighbors” for blasting music so I could enjoy it. Schools became more restricted with learning, participating, and being treated differently with lower expectations of what I could learn or do because I was deaf or came from a lower social-economic background or simply because I was “too bright” has a handicap child. 

    Most of last 5 years of schooling was devoted to speech therapy, auditory rehab due years of needing to catch up.  This resulted in lost opportunities to participate in sports or extra-curricular activities that
    hearing students had.

    What advice would you give a deaf/hard of  hearing person who is looking for a career like yours?

    -Never take NO for an answer!
    -Always believe in yourself and only you can determine what you want to be
    or do in your life (no one should decide for you).
    -Have lots of patience with people who don’t understand your intentions to
    excel in whatever you want to do.
    -Don’t be afraid to ask for help and be grateful when others do help you.
    -Never forget where you came from or your shortcomings so you can always be glad to help others when they are in need, especially if you are going to teach the little ones who will be looking up to you.
    -Pick the right college that will give you the most support not just the name of the school because it’s popular.
    -Don’t be afraid to stand up for what you believe is the right thing to do even if it is not the most popular thing others want you to do.

  • Start the Ripple and Inspire Someone Today!

    For all those who think they’re “too old” or that the “best years are over with,” this one is for you:

    Keith St. Onge:
    “Here we are at the World Barefoot Center with Judy Myers and Karen Putz. Very unique story we have here today. Today we have Karen Putz, she is deaf. It has been over 25 years since she has barefooted and we got her back on her feet skiing along today! Some more of the unique story is that Karen was introduced back into barefooting by seeing Judy Myers 67 years old skiing. Want to tell us a little bit more about that Karen?”

    Karen: “Sure! It was my 44th birthday and I was sitting at my parents’ lake, just sitting there thinking that the best years were over with. It had been ten years since I touched the water barefooting. So I’m sitting there thinking, “Gosh, I wish I could barefoot again.” I didn’t think I could. I mean I was 44 years old and I thought if I barefoot again I might break something.

    Keith St. Onge:
    “Right… A lot of people think that they might break something and they are to old to barefoot, but that is not the case.”

    Karen: So in October of that year, my husband sent me a link to Judy from the Today Show. At first, I didn’t open it but when I was cleaning out emails that one popped up. So I clicked on the link and I’m watching Judy and she’s barefooting on the water. I’m like, wait a minute! She’s 66 years old and she’s barefooting on the water. If she’s 66, well then, what’s my excuse? I’m 44– I can get back on the water again!

    So I contacted Judy and she said, “Come on down to Florida!” So that’s exactly what I did two, three weeks ago. On my first try, I got back to barefooting again.

    Keith St. Onge: One of the big questions is how we communicate with Karen. We can talk but she can not hear us, Karen can read lips. She reads lips perfectly! As long as Karen is making eye contact it works well.
    Karen:
    Keith is easy to lipread!

    Keith: The unique cool thing here is that Judy Myers 67 the oldest female barefooter in the world still competing . She has been bringing a lot of people down to the ski school, people have seen her Fit to Boom video, Subway commercial, all this type of stuff and things have been really cool. It has been AWESOME!

    Karen: If Judy can do it, then ANYONE can do it!

    Judy Myers:
    “That’s Right! That is exactly right”

    More:  The Best Years of Life Are Still Ahead

  • Deaf Child from Russia Needs a Loving Home

    There’s a little boy in Russia who is deaf and needs a loving home.  Read this email that I received from Elizabeth Gastelum, an attorney from Illinois:

    My husband and I adopted our kids from Russia last fall (both with hearing loss).  We thought they were the only kids there with a hearing loss, but once we arrived we realized that another little boy in the same group as our daughter also has a hearing loss.  He is 5 years old and Buryat (Russian, but of Mongolian descent).  He is a sweetheart!  Aside from hearing loss he has a form of CP (although this did not seem to be severe as he can dress and feed himself, and walk etc.)  To make a long story short, I am trying to get the word out about this little boy to anyone that is thinking of adoption.

    He is in Ulan-Ude, Russia.  The adoption agency is LSS of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. This adoption agency has the ability to handle Russian adoptions without going through another adoption agency with the required Russian permission.

    I realize that the recent media reports have seemed to indicate that Russia is or will be closing their adoptions with the United States, but reports that I have from professionals there and working with this program indicate that this will not be the case.  He is five years old now and I believe he will be six years old in October.  I am not for certain, but if it is the same scenario as it was with our two kids, there is a long waiting list for the school for the deaf there and more than likely he will be sent to a facility when he is six years old (unless there is a family in the process of adoption) that is for multiple handicaps (children and adults) and the majority are bedridden.  He does not belong there. But this is a part of the world where there are few other options.  I am willing to speak with any family interested, candidly, on what it has been like for us to have adopted two children from the same orphanage.

    If you are willing to open your heart and your home to this child, please email me at:  karen@karenputz.com and I will connect you with Elizabeth.

  • On Being Deaf

    On Being Deaf

    Someone asked me recently, “Do you wish you could hear?”

    I had to stop and ponder that one.

    If you asked me that question when I was nineteen, shortly after I became deaf from a fall while barefooting, I would have said, “Hell, yes.”  No pause.  No reflection there.  The answer would have been simple: give me full-fledged hearing and I will dance a jig until the end of time.

    I was born with hearing in the normal range.  I can remember my Dad telling me stories about a dog named Scamp.  My Dad worked double shifts, so I would crawl into bed when he arrived home and lie there while he told me stories.  I was about five or six when the warning signs began showing– I’d misunderstand a sentence or would ask him to repeat the words.  I grew up hard of hearing and had developed lipreading skills since I was young — I was firmly entrenched in the “hearing” world and knew no sign language.

    I was miserable being hard of hearing. The struggle to lipread and understand people in group conversations was next to impossible at times. So I found my solace in books and in my small circles of friends who knew me inside out. Those friends accepted me so well and knew what to do to make communication happen.

    The last shred of what I could hear without hearing aids was gone the moment I climbed into the boat after cartwheeling on the water.  I didn’t realize it that day– I just figured I had water in my ears and it would subside.  It wasn’t until the day that I left for college that I realized that “being deaf” was here to stay.   I spent my college nights lying there in the dark and…  crying.  Grief was a heavy cloak that wrapped around me in the darkness.  I cursed the piece of electronic equipment that I stuffed into my ear each day which did nothing more than bring environmental sounds to life and made lipreading a tad easier.  I had already spent most of my life lipreading, but I could at least hear the sounds around me and turn when spoken to without the hearing aid.  After that fall, there was nothing but silence without hearing aids.  A blessing at night, indeed, when the roar of tinnitus eventually stopped.  But it wasn’t a real blessing until I was deep into the journey.

    College life was filled with deaf and hard of hearing friends; some who had arrived into the Deaf Community like me– with no knowledge of American Sign Language.  I spent my days learning to lipread the interpreters and match their lip movements to their rapid hand movements.  I took several ASL classes and slowly incorporated the language into everyday life.  Before I knew it, life had become a happy journey down this new road. I met Joe–also deaf–who later became my husband. We spent twelve years traveling with a deaf volleyball team and playing in tournaments.

    And then one day, I realized that I no longer grieved. Instead, I celebrated.  There was much to enjoy from this new life path– an amazing language, a wonderful community and a blessed acceptance that a deaf life was indeed full and beautiful. And…three deaf and hard of hearing kids.

    So, you can see why today, I pause and ponder the answer to the question, “Do you wish you could hear?”

    The answer is a complicated one.  On one hand, yes.  I close my eyes and imagine being able to hear what others are saying when I hang out in groups.  I imagine the sweet bliss of being able to go anywhere, anytime and have access to the audio jungle out there.  But there is the sweet bliss of being content with how my life has unfolded on this journey; because you see, becoming deaf didn’t rob me of life, instead, it gave me a whole, new, beautiful life.

     

    Karen Putz is known as The Passion Mentor.  Want to learn how you can live a PASSIONATE life? Schedule your 30-minute Passion Consult here:

    Schedule Your Passion Session

  • Barefooting– Accomplished!

    Monday, March 29– definitely a fun day that I’ll always remember.  But before I explain, let me back up a bit here.

    Last fall, the hubby sent me a link to the TODAY show featuring Judy Myers, a 66-year-old gal who took up barefooting on a dare at the age of 53.   This was not long after my 44th birthday when I was feeling a little down and discouraged.  As I watched the video, I started feeling that old excitement about barefooting, a feeling that I had long ago given up on.  It had been ten years or so since the last time I barefooted.  It had been 25 years since I became deaf from a fall while barefooting. Heck, if a 53 year old gal could take up barefooting for the first time and compete at the age of 66, why couldn’t I get back on my feet in the water again?

    I got in touch with Judy and before I knew it, the plans were falling into place.  The hubby and I arranged a spring break vacation and I set up plans to join Judy at the World Barefoot Center run by Keith St. Onge and David Small in Winter Haven.

    I was pretty excited when I arrived and right off the bat, I spotted Judy.  What a great gal, I felt as if I had known her for years.  Keith welcomed me with a big smile and then introduced me to the three other skiers, Rick Meskers and his son Brody and another kid, ten-year-old Devin.  Rick is a show skier up in Wisconsin and nine-year-old Brody is a competitive skier who has won the Nationals three years in a row and going for his fourth this summer.

    Brody and Devin went first– I was in awe of what these kids could do at their young age.  Rick went next, and he worked on a backwards deep water start and after about his fourth start, he was nailing it.  Judy practiced some tumble turns– take a look:

    And then it was my turn.  Gulp.  Keith and I had gone over some pointers on the dock and I was reminding myself of those tips as I slipped into the water.  I had never used a boom before and the grip felt thick.  I wrapped my legs on the cable and looked at Keith and said, “Ready.”

    And 25 years after becoming deaf from barefooting, there I was barefooting again.  And it felt so good!

    More on Judy Myers:  Judy Myers Inspires Deaf Mom

    Brody Meskers in the news: Meskers Joins World Barefoot Center Team

    More on barefooting and why The Best Years of Life are Still Ahead

    I hang around old people: Barefooting with a Senior Citizen

    Numerous deep water starts:  Barefooting, I Mean, Butt-Riding

    Inspire someone, the way Judy inspired me:  Start a Ripple, Inspire Someone Today

    Face your fears:  When Fear Holds You Back