Ageless Passions by Karen Putz

Category: Uncategorized

  • Scentsy Makes My House Smell Nice

    My friend Diana sells Scentsy— the wickless candle with the fabulous, chic holders.  I volunteered to host a party to get her started in her new business but my first attempt ended in a canceled party two weeks ago — very few gals were able to come.  But last night, we had a good turn out and a fun time together.

    My daughter came up to me in the middle of the party and asked, “Mom!  What did you do?  The bathroom smells great!”

    I guess she noticed the Vanilla Walnut wafing from the plugged in Scentsy instead of the usual boy-mis-aims-and-leaves-a-scent that usually permeats the bathroom. Needless to say, that was one of the scents I selected for my purchase.

    You know what that means?  The next time my Mom comes to visit, I can mask my lack of cleaning skills by simply plugging in the Scentsy and popping in the Pomegranate Ice.

    Diana demonstrates.

    Roberta, Lori (The Facebook Queen) and Lisa.

    Jane ponders what scent she’s going to pick.  Or maybe she’s wondering if there’s any Tuscan Lemonade left?

    Come on girls, it’s important to choose the right scent.  Concentrate!

    What’s a gal’s night out without some Tuscan Lemonade with limoncello?

    Next time, don’t leave so early, gals or you’ll miss out on our group picture!  It was 1 or 2 a.m. before we called it a night.

  • Julie Chavez, Medicare Project Coordinator

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    Julie Chavez is the president of the Illinois Association of the Deaf and previously worked as a Deaf Services Coordinator at the Dupage Center for Independent Living.  I interviewed her recently to learn more about her life growing up and the job she currently has:
    Tell me a bit about yourself growing up.  What was it like growing up in your family?
     
    I was born in Jacksonville, Illinois.  My mother had rubella during her first trimester of her pregnancy with me.  Doctor wanted my Mom to terminate the pregnancy- Mom refused. (Thank goodness!  Her life would be dull without me!! LOL!)  Once I arrived into the arrive into the world on November 3rd, I looked “normal” so there was no need to worry until later.  Mom noticed that I wasn’t responding like my older siblings would.  Doctor said there was nothing wrong.  That wasn’t how my mom felt.  She knew something wasn’t quite right with me because I wasn’t speaking and I wasn’t responding like “normal” kids do at the age of 2 and 3 years of age.  Finally, the Doctor told my mom that I was “slow”. Mom didn’t believe that but in the mean time, my Dad was transferred to Chicago so we moved to West Chicago, Illinois. I began Kindergarten at Gary School- I recall vividly, being in a class room and looking at everyone- watching their mouths move but I wasn’t understanding a single word, I recall feeling isolated, feeling the fear, I recall every moment as if it were yesterday..  I was notorious for escaping the school building and running home…  My Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Messer, bless her heart had the patience of a saint with me!!  Mom met a woman who noticed that I exhibited the same symptoms as her son who was just diagnosed as having mild to moderate hearing loss.  This lady recommended that I go get a complete hearing evaluation done at Northern Illinois University.  Well, I only had two words in my vocabulary so a complete hearing evaluation was not possible until I learned my vocabulary.  I spent all summer with the lady who told mom about NIU learning my vocabulary and by the end of the summer- I had a vocubulary of 500 words!  I still have all of the stuff that this lady used as teaching tools!!  Finally, hearing evaluation was performed and I was diagnosed with mild to moderate hearing loss.  I remember being fitted with a hearing aid- I HATED IT!! It was overwhelming for me because there were noises that I never heard before and by this time, I was sent to schools that provided programs for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.  I was notorious for throwing my hearing aids out the bus window until Mom became smart and had me fork over the hearing aids to the busdriver… My poor Dad had to pay for two new hearing aids out of his own pocket to replace the ones I tossed out the bus window..  No insurance covered hearing aids (don’t get me started on this topic!)  By the way, my mom has pictures of me one prior to being diagnosed with hearing loss and one after the diagnosis and wearing hearing aids.
     
    Growing up, I have 2 brothers and 3 sisters.  My life was spent getting on the bus by 6 a.m. and not coming home until about 5:30-6:00 pm.  I never really got to spend a lot of time with my siblings because I was gone majority of the day.  Weekends, this is where I spent quality time with family- all were told not to learn sign language because the doctors, audiologists, school team felt that my parents should raise me oral- sign language was not needed it was only for the deaf not for the hearing impaired.  My parents did what they were told… I love my family but I always felt excluded because it was difficult for me to keep up with conversation at the dinner table, so what I did to survive was “mimic” everything they did.  Today, my family wishes they learned sign language and I tell them that they still can!!  Even today when we have family gatherings- my husband and I still get lost with conversations at the dinner table- my family forgets that we can’t hear everything; our boys usually will keep us up to speed..  Don’t get me wrong, I love my family and I have tons of fond memories of stuff we did.
     
    Where did you attend school and what were the school years like? 
     
    I went to Lincoln School, Hammerschmidt School in Lombard, Emerson School in Elmhurst, Westfield Jr. High in Bloomingdale, Wheaton Christian in West Chicago and then Hinsdale South in Darien.  School years prior to Middle School were tough because there were debates over the Deaf and hard of hearing- should they be segregated or not.. one year, D/HH were together then the next- we were separated… it was a rough time until they realized that those of us who were oral needed to learn sign language in order to communicate with our friends who were profoundly deaf. Middle school was great, then I wanted to see if I could attend a hearing school- I attended Wheaton Christian High School located in West Chicago- did not receive any accommodations and that was the absolute worse year of my school career.  I felt isolated, alone and regretted my decision.  However, I had one friend, Martha Lefley, who took me under her wing and helped me with my homework and to keep up with the class.. with out her, I would have failed my freshman year.  I begged to go to Hinsdale South, my mom was disappointed but she realized that I know what I needed and she realized that I needed to be with peers who are also deaf or hard of hearing.  Began my sophmore year at Hinsdale South and I was a happy camper, I finally felt like I “belonged”.  Hinsdale South was crucial in preparing me for life after high school.  I still keep in touch with several teachers.  THANK YOU HINSDALE SOUTH!!  This is also where I met my hubby!! (That’s another story for later!)
     
    When you were younger, what did you want to be when you “grew up?” 
     
    I always wanted to be a nurse.  Growing up in my neighborhood, my friends would come to me if they got hurt- I would run and get my first aid kit and fix them up..  During my high school days, I was known as the “momma” of class of 1983, why?  if anyone had a problem, I was their confidant.. as you can see this is where it led me to who I am today.
     
    Where did you attend college and what did you major in?  What degree(s) do you have today?
     
    My college dreams were shattered when I applied for the nursing program 3 times at NIU- was told that I would never be a nurse because I was hard of hearing.  NTID and Galludet didn’t offer nursing programs at the time.  I gave up and I wish I didn’t- and I regret it deeply.  I never did go to college until after I married and had two kids.  I’m still working on pursuing my associate’s degree.
     
    Tell me about your previous work experience.
     
    My previous work experience was as a Deaf Services Coordinator..  I provide services to the Deaf/Hard of Hearing community such as peer counseling, advocacy, information and referral, and Independent Living Skills.  My job was to promote independence, self advocacy etc.  I realized that many of my consumers had a need for assistance with Medicare, medicaid, SSDI and SSI..  I had no clue how this worked so I decided to be proactive and went to training, took a state exam and passed with flying colors and now I was state certified to help with Medicare, Medicaid, SSDI and SSI to the general public and boy, did I fall in love with this field!!  Don’t ask but I love the challenges it brings and how rewarding it is when we unravel the mess- and seeing the smile on my consumer’s faces once everything is resolved!  Advocacy- I loved this part of my job with a passion!  I love teaching this to my consumers and watching them grow stronger, build confidence and self esteem…  I also loved networking with the professionals out there and educating them on disability awareness and working side by side with legislators..  It is an awesome job that comes with gaining awesome experience.
     
    What is your current job and what is a typical day like on the job?
     
    My current job title is Make Medicare Work Project Coordinator.  I counsel individuals on Medicare/Medicaid, supplemental insurance, and the works.  I also provide workshops, presentations etc..  I work with the Make Medicare Work Coalition as well as AgeOptions, we are a team that provides services to the community to educate them on Medicare/Medicaid and keep them informed of upcoming changes and Lord knows we have changes coming for 2010!! 
     
    What advice would you share with a student who is considering career choices?
     
    When considering your career choice, I believe that high schools offer programs where you can intern somewhere and at least you can test it out to see if this is what you really want to do…  Talk to people who are in the career that  you are considering, see if you can “shadow” them for a few weeks.  Investigate your career choices thoroughly..  do me a HUGE favor- do NOT ever let anyone tell you that you CAN’T do it because you are deaf.  Take it from me, I let them tell me that and I gave up.  Don’t take NO for an answer.  Get out there and show them what you are made of.  What angers me is how people focuses on the DISABILITY and not on the ABILITY!!  I love the quote by I. King Jordan, “We can do everything that a person does EXCEPT hear”.

  • How Deaf Weddings are Different

    It was an absolutely stunning day for a wedding on Saturday. The colorful mums were in full bloom and the sun began a slow descent when Ron and Meredith exchanged their vows in American Sign Language. About half of the guests were deaf or hard of hearing. There were supposed to be two interpreters there, one for the audience and one for the couple, but one interpreter did not show. It was difficult to view the interpreter from where I was sitting but I caught as much as I could. Standing on either side of the couple was the groom’s two young sons with the cutest smiles on their faces.

    I especially enjoy deaf/hard of hearing weddings because at those weddings, communication is often a breeze at the dinner table and on the dance floor. When the hubby and I are seated at a wedding where all the guests at my table are hearing, we are often left out of conversations that simply flow too fast for us to follow. Sometimes we’ll gamely attempt to join in the conversation and let everyone know what they need to do to include us. The conversation will slow, we’ll toss in some banter, but it usually ends up going back to the same fast pace at some point. Then we end up talking to each other.

    Deaf/hard of hearing weddings are a whole different ball game. Conversations zip back and forth visually while the bread gets passed around. Shoulders are tapped, arms are waved and the energy in the air takes on a different vibe. I catch the eye of a friend two tables down and we catch up on news while we wait for the salad to arrive.

    It’s not long before the first napkin pops up in the air. Then another joins, and another– until the air in the whole room is pulsating with the napkins that are being whipped around and around. The usual tradition for a bride and groom to kiss is the sound of a spoon tapping against a water glass. That tradition doesn’t serve well at deaf and hard of hearing weddings where the couple may not hear the tinking sound. Instead, it is a tradition to whip the napkins around in the air to signal the couple that it is time for a kiss.

    On the way home from the wedding, the hubby and I reflected on the evening. “I always like going to deaf weddings,” he commented. “We can just kick back and not have to struggle to understand everyone, ya know?”

    Yes, I know.

  • What I Learned from Laughter: Laughing at the Small Stuff

    Every now and then, I like to participate in Robert Hruzek’s group writing projects–they’re always a fun read!  This month’s subject focuses on:

    What I Learned from Laughter.

    At first, I thought I would just share the blog post I wrote over at Chicago Moms Blog:

    When Your Only Option is a Thong.

    When I wrote that one, several friends emailed me and told me they couldn’t stop laughing.  I wasn’t laughing too much when I wrote it, because I was overwhelmed at the laundry piles around my house.  But hey, I learned a valuable lesson from that episode: do your laundry on a regular basis and you won’t have to resort to thongs.  Or worse, commando, as Vicky once teased on Twitter.

    When I think about what I’ve learned from laughter, there’s one episode in my life that stands out.  When the three kids were younger, I often had days when I counted the minutes until the hubby would arrive home and provide an extra pair of eyes and hands in my quest to keep three kids in one place.

    My oldest kiddo, David, was often on hurricane cycle.  He would bounce from one activity to the next (like his Mom??) and leave a path of destruction in his wake.  I once put the baby down for a nap and left David and Lauren parked in front of the TV so I could quickly go to the bathroom.   I walked into the kitchen to find the two of them drawing wavy lines on the kitchen wall.  In a matter of seconds, David had grabbed some crayons off the counter and coerced his sister into drawing artwork on the flat white builder’s paint.  The artwork stayed on the wall for over a year– because neither the hubby nor I could muster up enough energy to paint over the crayon.

    One evening, David was a category five and my patience was long gone.  I was just trying to survive long enough until the hubby arrived home so I could hand off the kid duties to him.  The hubby arrived home and surveyed the toys strewn about, the lunch dishes on the table and me with the harried look on my face.  He could tell it was “one of those days.”

    After a hurried dinner, I filled the bathtub up and went to grab towels from the other bathroom.  As I walked back in, my eyes caught something floating in the bathtub.

    I screamed.

    It was a brand new book:  Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff.

    I fished it out of the water, wiped as much of the wet stuff off as I could and started to cry.  I sat on the toilet and the tears kept coming.  Mothering three kids just two years apart had taken its toll and came crashing down on me at that moment.  Just then, David came over, climbed in my lap and started hugging me.

    “I love you Mommy.”  He hugged me again.

    My eyes went back to the book and I saw the title more clearly.  “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff.”

    I started to laugh.

    Alternating between tears and laughter, I smiled at the irony of the whole thing.

    It is now years later– the little boy has grown into a young man– but I still have the book with the warped pages stuck together.  It’s a reminder of that hectic time of three kids under the age of four–when I thought the day would never end and I’d never have a minute to myself.  Today, the kids amuse themselves and there’s a little more time for me.  How quickly the time flies, how valuable that lesson of laughter is.

    Don’t sweat the small stuff.  And remember to laugh in the process.

  • Howard Rosenblum, Attorney

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    Howard Rosenblum was just twelve years old when he attended an event that changed his life and determined his career path.  At the event, he met Lowell Myers, a deaf attorney who had argued a famous case which was made into a movie, Dummy.

    Howard recalls the event:  “When he came to speak about his experiences as a lawyer at an event in 1978, a twelve-year-old deaf boy saw the same opportunity that Mr. Myers saw for himself. That boy was me, and thanks to Mr. Myers, I became a lawyer 14 years later.”

    Today, Howard is a Senior Attorney at Equip for Equality located in Chicago– a non-profit organization that advances the human and civil rights of people with disabilities.   He holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Arizona and a J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law.  He is the founder and director of the Midwest Center for Law and the Deaf which provides attorney referrals for deaf and hard of hearing people.  In 2002, he received the Edward J. Lewis II Pro Bono Service Award for providing many years of pro bono work during his tenure at the law firm of Monahan and Cohen.

    Howard credits his parents for encouraging him to pursue his dream and to ignore the naysayers.  Just as Myers inspired Howard, Howard is now inspiring other deaf and hard of hearing individuals with his path.  The number of deaf and hard of hearing attorneys continues to grow, and together, they’re breaking down barriers.

  • Saying Goodbye to Summer

    I hate Labor Day Weekend.  It’s the “official” end of summer at Christie Lake and it always makes me sad.  We try and grab as much as we can out of the weekend and always have to make the decision of whether or not we’ll take the boats out or stretch out a couple more weekends into the fall.

    It’s been a rather cool summer this year and the summer was one of the speediest summers I can ever remember.  It was gone in a flash.  Joe’s Mom keeps trying to tell me that the older you get, the faster time spins.  She told me this when David was a baby and I laughed.  She said the high school years were a blur.  I couldn’t fathom that, because I was holding a little kiddo in my hands and just trying to make it through the next hour with some semblance of sanity and intact thought.

    Damn.  She wasn’t kidding.  Time is indeed spiraling by and I swear, it seems like someone keeps turning the clocks on fast-forward.  You know that little baby I was talking about?  This is him:

    He’s an offensive lineman for Hinsdale South now. In two short years, we’ll be sending him off to college.  I don’t understand how he went from being a baby just yesterday to this strapping hulk of a boy/man.  I kind of envy the Duggars. If I was smart, I could have cheated Father Time by just having baby after baby.  Yeah, that would have been a good plan– you know how time crawls when you try to get through hour by hour with little ones.  And then it would take forever before the last kiddo goes off to Grown-up-hood.

    But getting back to the weekend, another reason I don’t like Labor Day weekend:  each summer that goes by is a summer that I know I can’t get back, another summer ticking by.

    So here it is, the big weekend of summer.  So rather than thinking about endings, I’m going to celebrate the weekend instead.  Join me–not in saying goodbye to summer, but just merely, “So long, see ya next year!”

  • Lions Camp for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Kids

    My kids are still talking about this year’s week at Camp Lions.  Every year, they look forward to that one, magical week with all their friends.  The conversations last all year–via sleepovers, Facebook sharing, texts that fly back and forth and videophone calls.

    My kids spend all day in the mainstream going to classes with students who can hear so they cherish their time with deaf and hard of hearing friends.  Those friendships are deeply important, because communication isn’t an issue and being different isn’t an issue.

    At a deaf picnic this summer, a young mother came up to me and signed, “Do you remember me?”  I looked at her–she looked vaguely familiar but I couldn’t place the moment in time where we knew each other.

    “You were my camp counselor at Camp Lions!” she said.

    Back in the mid-80s, I did one summer as a camp counselor for the Lions Camp.  I also did one summer as a waterski instructor at Camp Endeavor in Florida.  It’s easy for the kids to remember the counselors, much harder for counselors to remember the many kids!  But I did remember the young girl at camp and it was amazing to see her as a mother to her own kiddos years later.

    I have several friends who attended the Lions Camps as young kids and thirty-plus years later, they can recall the fun they had and the connections that were made.  It’s no surprise that Camp Lions continues to fill up year after year.  They are now in their 51st year of providing camps to deaf and hard of hearing kids in Illinois.

    So I’m writing this to publicly thank the Camp Lions of Illinois and the Lions of Illinois Foundation because if not for the tireless efforts of every Lion group in Illinois who fundraise each year– the deaf and hard of hearing kids in Illinois would have no magical week to remember.

    Thank you.

    Camp is Over, It’s Back to the Real World


  • My Mom’s View of my Birthday

    “Ok, Mrs. Griffard, you’re going to have this baby soon,” said the nurse as she moved around the bed and pushed back the sheets.

    “This really hurts!” Mom said.  “When is the doctor going to put me out?”

    “Oh no, we don’t do that anymore.”

    “What do you mean?  I was put out for my other four!”

    “No, you’ll have to help push this baby out.”

    “You gotta be kidding.  Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! This hurts! Ow, ow, ow!  I feel like I’m going to be split apart!  This is painful!”

    And that’s how I came into the world 44 years ago.

  • Lessons from a Sea Doo

     

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    It was one of those idyllic summer weekends– good food on the grill, time with the family and fun on the water.  David and I took turns pulling each other on the jet ski, attempting to skim along the water on our bare feet.  I hadn’t gone barefooting in years, but I tried getting up on the board and planting my feet in the water.  I couldn’t do it.  David tried a couple of times, both on the board and on the ski.  He was pretty determined to try over and over.  I liked the fire that I saw in his eyes as he attempted the new skill.

    The kids wakeboarded behind the Sea Doo and then we did some tubing the next day with another deaf family.

    Yesterday, the sky was grey and a storm had passed through.  The sun lightened up the clouds and David decided to pull Steven on the wakeboard behind the Sea Doo. Steven did a dock start on the wakeboard and went halfway around the lake before he fell and the two of them headed back for another round.  As David tossed out the rope, the Sea Doo was still circling.

    Whoooosh.

    The rope went right up the intake.  With the intake piston revolving over 1,000 RPMs, it wasn’t long before the rope got stuck.

    I was in the house when I heard the news.  Let’s just say that I wouldn’t win any Mommy-of-the-Year awards with my response.  I’m sure the neighbor’s eyes popped watching my animated signing.  “What-were-you-thinking-this-was-totally-avoidable-how-could-you-not-watch-the-freaking-rope…”

    I’ll spare you the rest.

    David and Joe went under the lift to assess the damage.  “It’s wound up so tight, totally impossible to get this off,” Joe said.  “I think we need to bring it to the marine place and have them take it apart.”

    “Try to get it off,” I growled at them.

    After a half an hour of hacking at it and cutting loose some of the rope, the guys weren’t getting very far. I finally jumped in the water to take a look.

    It wasn’t pretty.

    The rope was wound so tight and it had been shoved deep into the shaft.  My first instinct was to agree with Joe– this was a job for someone else to do.  I took another look.

    Hmmm, if I could just loosen one end, we might be able to get it out.

    “Can you get me a long screwdriver and a needle-nose pliers?”

    Little by little, we each took turns under the lift and loosening the rope bit by bit.  David had a big grin on his face when he pulled out the last of the rope from the shaft.  He had relieved grin on his face when I started up the Sea Doo and took off with it.  It worked fine.

    So what did we learn from this?  For starters, David learned how powerful the intake was on a jet ski– I’m betting that he’ll never make this mistake again.  I also was reminded of the time that I ran over a ski rope myself around the same age–my Dad had to take the prop off the boat to get all of the rope out.  I do remember him hollering at me to be more careful after that.

    But the biggest lesson of all was this: Something that at first looks impossible can be accomplished by working at it little by little and not giving up.

    More lessons from a Sea Doo–What I Learned About Stress.

  • Twitter, My Virtual Watercooler

    I don’t understand this Twitter thing,” a friend of mine said to me recently.  “I can’t make sense of it all.  What’s the point of all those short sentences?”

    My sister-in-law asked me the same thing and so did my neice: I Don’t Get Twitter.

    That’s pretty much what I thought too, when Glenda Watson Hyatt introduced me to Twitter over a year ago.  I am so glad that I listened to Glenda, because Twitter has become my virtual watercooler.  In my daily life, I’m often cut off from conversations around me unless I have access to an interpreter, captioning or some super lipreading.  Twitter lets me peek in on conversations (Ah, so that’s what people talk about!) and gives me the opportunity to join in.  I enjoy Twitter so much that I ended up here: Chicago Moms on Twitter.

    Liz Strauss is hosting a writing project: 25 Words of Social Media Wisdom.  I’ve decided to join in and share my thoughts on Twitter and what it means to me:

    “