Last year was a lot. I feel more ready to share. Last year Mid-June, my mom went to the ER with a life threatening severe infection from knee surgery. That weekend I was performing in 2 shows per day, I rushed to the hospital several times. She didn’t feel good and kept talking about how she needs to take care of her sister’s death arrangements. I knew my aunt had cancer but I thought she had more time. At the moment it was confusion and shock for me… I learned my aunt was on her last possible treatment. If this didn’t work the doctor gave her 2 more weeks after the treatment finished. I asked when the treatment is finished and they said July…After my mom’s emergency surgery, I went back and forth to see her. I drove back and forth 2 hours with my mom to visit my aunt on hospice because my mom couldn’t drive. She had to keep her knee straight and was on several IV antibiotics 3 times a day for 6 months. All this while coordinating and producing the Bay Area International Deaf Dance Festival (3 interpreters backed out within 3 weeks of the festival plus 1 during the week), attending rehearsals when I could and I had to take over my mom’s whole business for her while she was sick 4+months from May to September working 16 hour days. My aunt passed away peacefully in July just 2 weeks before the festival. The morning after my aunt died, I got up and taught a grant writing workshop I already committed to and then broke down numb. The first thing through my mind-I was so freaked out that I didn’t have a recent healthy picture of me and my aunt and was searching frantically. So relieved when I found some.
Friday of the festival, my mom had another surgery with the outcome unknown until it’s finished because her infection was not going away. They needed to open up the knee to see if they could clean it up or put a cement spacer in and then wait until the infection goes away after 6 months and then do another knee replacement. The director told me I can take time as I need but I just couldn’t leave all the work on them like that when I know in the past so many people have dropped the ball, disappeared and that this festival is run on a low budget with low capacity and we just drive on the passion of providing a safe, professional, and accessible space for Deaf artists to present their work. Sometimes there will be a limit of time where we have to pay more money, California laws make everything more expensive so our budget becomes smaller yet Mx Hunter comes up with a way to make it accessible to complete our mission and still provide opportunities for other Deaf people and it’s never a profit for us.
The point of sharing is not to look for pity. You just never know what someone is going through. Please keep being kind, honest, empathetic and the best you can be. Now this year I’m grappling with the grief of one of our dancers/friends passing away unexpectedly and another close friend of mine on hospice…that’s for another post. When it rains it pours especially in California to a California girl.
CD: Two pictures 1) Picture of Zahna, wearing Jean shorts, red maroon top, earrings and her long blonde hair down. Her body is facing and looking out a large window. 2) Picture of Zahna and her aunt hugging. Zahna is wearing green leggings, black jacket, red ear/head warmer, sneakers, a backpack and is smiling at the camera. Auntie Shelley is wearing gray puff coat, black leggings and purple hat. The background is a redwood forest. End description.
#Nature #Redwoods #RedwoodForest #DeafDancers #DeafBallerina #DeafBalletDancer #ASL #AmericanSignLanguage #Ballet #BalletInspiration #Dancer #DeafDancersWorldWide #TravelForWork #ResilienceInAdversity #EmpathyAlways #FamilyAndDedication #DeafArtistsUnite #GriefAndDancing #KeepMovingForward #UnexpectedJourneys #DeafEnPointe #ZahnaSimon
