Kelly and Mikey arrive today!

"Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can read."

Mark Twain

Flying down from Delaware to Birmingham today to celebrate Dave's 60th birthday will be his niece, Kelly, and her son, Mikey.

Mikey is six years old and absolutely adorable! He is going to surprise his Uncle Dave when he arrives with his mom around noon today. They have a very special relationship that touches me every time that I watch the two of them together.

Kelly is the daughter of Dave's sister, Kaye, who passed away last September from colon cancer. Kelly is profoundly deaf and Mikey (and his little sister, Maddie) communicate with her by signing. Kelly's husband, Mike, is also deaf--but has some hearing with the help of aids--and can read lips very easily.

Following in her mom's footsteps, Kelly works as a signing teacher at a local school for the deaf in Delaware. (I wish that she had the time to teach me in that I still haven't been able to master the ability to sign. The older I get the less retentive skills I have!)

I, too, have such a fondness for Kelly, Mike, Mikey and Maddie. Although Kelly has been deaf since birth (her mom contracted German measles while pregnant), she is a wonderfully positive and extremely loving person ready to hug you with open arms.

To me, she "hears" with her heart....

which, when you think about it, is really the best way for one to be "heard"...