Author: Karen Putz

It is no surprise that the most popular place on the ship was around the pools and hot tubs at the top. On the afternoons that we were at sea, there were several pool games. One woman from Minnesota was beating guy after guy at pool jousting, a game where one has to balance in a sitting position on a floating log and knock the other person off. Another afternoon game consisted of pool relay where a team of five girls competed against five guys. Each person had a large t-shirt provided by the ship. Once they completed their laps, they had to take off the t-shirt and place it on the next person. The last person had five t-shirts. The relay ended in a tie, but later footage by DeafNation showed that the guys actually won.

One of the most popular games was the Belly Flop contest on the last day:

A lot of people ended up badly sunburned, mostly because they couldn’t tear themselves away from the pool!

Oh gosh.

Where to begin?

We just arrived home and I’m already wishing I was back on the boat. A whole week of non-stop food, a great bed to sleep in, constant entertainment and wonderful service from staff members that made every effort to please.

I’m going to have to post this over a couple of series of blog entries this week. Despite the threat of Hurricane Noel, Royal Caribbean managed to steer into good weather for most of the trip. We were able to stop at Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Jamaica. Haiti was hit badly by the storm and that stop was cancelled.

Here we are at Miami Beach on Sunday morning, just before taking off for the ship:

The Freedom of the Seas is the largest cruise ship ever built. According to our waiter, there are two more larger cruise ships being built right now which will expand the Royal Caribbean fleet to 24 ships. The ship is as high as two Statues of Liberty and weighes as much as 34,000 elephants together. The ship’s propellers can rotate 360 degrees and move the ship into tight spaces. The Freedom has a thruster system that keeps the boat relatively stable, even in high winds and rough seas.

Sailing on the Freedom of the Seas was quite a different experience than the cruise we took on our honeymoon eighteen years ago. For starters, we weren’t separated into twin beds (yes, twin beds on our honeymoon!) and the queen-sized bed was incredibly comfortable. The kids were in the room next door with a door between the rooms. Each night, our cabin steward shaped several towels into various animal shapes. The kids really enjoyed coming back into the cabin after dinner to discover a new animal each night.

More tomorrow–there’s a ton of laundry to unpack!

What a cruise! 3,800 deaf and hard of hearing people on one boat. The first two nights were quite a mess with seating arrangements not confirmed. We’ve finally straightened out our seating arrangements and should have a permanent place to park our family for the next few night’s dinners.

We have just docked in Grand Cayman and the winds have calmed down a bit since last night. The boat is amazingly steady despite 50 mph winds at times. We’ve had three days of sunny weather so far. The ship’s crew turned the route around and we stopped at Cozumel yesterday. Haiti has been cancelled and there’s talk that we might not tour Jamaica tomorrow. No matter what, we’ve got thousands of people to chat with and lots of nice activities on the boat.

Till later!

On Sunday, October 7th, I headed down to Nashville for the “Investing in Family Support” conference. I met up with Libby and Don Matlin, (Marlee Matlin’s parents) and joined them for dinner. Libby was scheduled as the keynote speaker the following day.

The conference opened with a panel of parents and professionals lead by Leeanne Seaver from Hands & Voices, titled “Issues Worth Raising: Parents & Professionals Speak Out.” I participated on the panel and one of things I shared was this: I’ve learned that professional opinions are just that–opinions. I’ve learned that I could take those opinions and use them as I saw fit, rather than having those opinions direct my decisions as a parent.

The next day, Libby spoke about “Raising an Empowered Child.” Her message was a simple one: love your child. Libby spoke about parent support, noting that today’s parents have access to a variety of information, choices and unbiased support via organizations like Hands & Voices. Back then, information was harder to come by and parents were often limited to the information given by the professionals in their area. Libby recalled that she and Don attended regular meetings where they could meet other parents and obtain face-to-face support, something that today’s parents may find harder to do with both parents working.

After the presentation, we gathered with Libby and Don for a picture. From left to right: Karen Putz, Janet DesGeorges, Libby, Don and Leeanne Seaver. Janet is holding a copy of “Marlee Matlin, What My Parents Understood.”

One of the most often searched for topics on my blog is the one about Tinnitus–The Roaring in my Head. Since so many searches are leading to that topic on this blog, I am guessing that quite a few people are affected by tinnitus.

In Healthy Hearing, a recent article, “Brain Imaging May Hold Clues to Ringing in the Ears,” focused on tinnitus. The article stated that scientists are exploring the causes of tinnitus in the brain. Research currently shows that people with tinnitus seem to have a lower amount of gamma aminobutric acid (GABA) than people without tinnitus.

Imagine popping a GABA pill before heading to bed to make the roaring go away!

In 1943, my father enlisted in the Marines at the age of eighteen. After six weeks of boot camp at Camp Pendleton in California, he was immediately shipped off to Guadacanal to begin fighting in World War II. He fought in Guam and Okinawa and stayed on to serve during the Occupation of China. During his time in the Marines, my father became friends with a guy from his troop named Albert Aubuchon. The two of them fought together. The majority of the men in their troop never saw home again.

Shortly after arriving home in 1946, Dad stood up in Albert’s wedding. Dad and Albert kept in touch for a few years after the war and then lost touch as the years went on. My parents moved from Missouri to Chicago, and then retired up in Michigan.

A few years ago, thanks to the internet, my sister Linda was able to locate Albert’s phone number and my Dad got in touch with Albert. Albert called Dad on his birthday, a date he remembered after all of those years. Each of them can still recall their rifle numbers.

The Monday after celebrating Mom and Dad’s 60th anniversary, my cousin Marilyn and Linda had another trick up their sleeve. They had arranged for Albert and his wife to meet with them in Missouri. They told Mom and Dad that they were all going to see a new mall out near Farmington that day. Along the way, they pulled into a McDonalds and Linda got the camera ready.

Marilyn turned around and said, “We can’t eat a big breakfast, we are having lunch with Albert Aubuchon.”

“What?” My Dad gave her a blank stare. Marilyn had never seen him so speechless.

Linda snapped the picture:

After they recovered from the surprise, they headed back on the road to Sullivan where they had arranged to meet Albert and his wife Eva, at a truck stop.

“Dad got of the car then,” recalled Marilyn as she retold the story. “They shook hands and hugged each other. It was a very moving moment to watch. They were both so happy to finally reunite after all these years!”

After a nice lunch, they drove around Sullivan and headed back to Albert and Eva’s house where they chatted into the early evening.

“I don’t think mom & dad will ever trust me again!!!” chuckled Marilyn.

Though the singer is silent, there still is the truth of the song.

From “On the Wings of a Dream,” by John Denver.

John Denver Dies–And so Does a Piece of my Heart.

On Saturday, September 29, we took my parents around Ste. Genevieve to see all of the childhood homes of my mom and dad and their parents. During the ride around town, Mom was telling me how Tommy was helping to prepare the treats for what HE thought was someone else’s retirement party. Little did my parents know that we were celebrating their 60th anniversary that night and that Tommy was in on the secret all along. It was tough to keep a straight face as I realized that my mom was preparing the treats for their own party, while thinking that she was preparing it for Tommy’s retirement party!

At 5:30 p.m., Tommy and Marilyn and my parents arrived at the Knights of Columbus hall. As they all walked in, it was hilarious to watch my mom keep her eyes on Tommy, waiting for him to react in surprise. She had a puzzled look on her face and couldn’t figure out why Tommy wasn’t acting out in surprise. When my parents realized that they stepped into a celebration for them, they couldn’t believe that we fooled them yet again ten years later!

I headed up to Harper College on Friday to watch my son David compete in the 15th Annual Academic Bowl. Five teams, including one from Wisconsin, spent the day answering questions and figuring out math problems. David’s team won the bowl!

After the competition, I headed over to the gym to help i711.com and GoAmerica set up the booths for the DeafNation Expo. Every year, this expo draws a large crowd. We had a large team of “Champs” manning the booths this year. I really enjoy working for i711.com and I use the relay almost daily. The first time that I called my dad using Voice Carry Over, he thought I suddenly regained my hearing. He had no idea I was using relay and the interpreter on the screen in front of me kept up with his conversation so well that there was almost no delay. I no longer experience hang-ups when I order pizza!

The i711.com team:

i711.com Champ, Steve Murbach, tests out the relay at the start of the Expo: