Gentle Jen

I met Jen over a year ago while I was again visiting Floozie in Savannah. I got an email from her that she was coming to Savannah to eat at Lady and Sons and could we possibly meet up? Hmm...Miss Paula's food and Jen too! What an irresistible combination. Great I responded....give me your phone number and we will hook up. Just one problem.....Jen is deaf and can't use the phone. Hmmm.....how about smoke signals? Carrier pigeons? Flare guns?

Praise the Lord for wireless internet. We were able to hook up at Lady and Sons without any difficulty. Jen is 5'11 and is a stand out in any crowd! Jen reads lips as easily as I read menus so communication was not a problem as long as you look at her when you are speaking. Floozie and I instantly fell in love with her and adopted her on the spot! ( Yes, we are old enough to be her momma, thank you for asking!)



So of course it was only a matter of time before we could reconnect with our girl. What a thrill to spend 5 days with her. (This is our impression of a wide mouth bass....pretty realistic huh?) Throw Melli in the mix, add Susan and bubbly Baba and stand back Savannah!


I , of course, took it upon myself to make sure Jen knew what was going on at all times. Together we invented our own sign language which usually involved one or both of us breaking into gales of laughter at the most inappropriate times. Since Jen reads lips I could mouth the words without any volume and only she would "get it". ( Did I ever tell you that the bloggin babes can't stand being left out of any joke? )


We went on the Savannah Trolley Tour. The guide was a riot but it was difficult for Jen to read her lips as she was always turning trying to point out various buildings along the route. So I took it upon myself to give Jen a private tour. Mine was soooo much better but it of course involved lots of inappropriate laughter. Jen speaks really very clearly but has no idea how loud she is speaking especially in Saint John's Church....it involved alot of "Flappin" on my part to get her attention.

I tried to read lips and was amazed at how much concentration it took and how draining it was. I have picked up some really bad habits now. I can only talk if I use my hands in greatly exaggerated movements and I don't speak unless the person is looking directly at me. I didn't realize I was doing that until Melli looked at me curiously and said, "What?" Then I realized I was staring at her, waiting for her to turn around so I could remind her to put her seat belt on.


Jen has an incredible sense of humor. We were laughing at her because she was walking backwards to catch what we were saying to each other. So she put her sunglasses on the back of her head so she could walk and still "watch us". Nothing seems to slow her down....I found myself tiptoeing around so as not to wake her in the morning. She found that hilariously funny. Melli and I tried to get her attention when she came to Baba's front door. We had come through the garage door to meet her and her back was too us. We were jumping up and down, flapping our arms and shouting to no avail. We tickled ourselves with how ridiculous we looked, I was seriously thinking of hitting her with a pine cone before she turned around on her own (probably because we caused the ground to shake while we were jumping and
flapping!).


Jen looks divine in her hat at the Tea Room. It was such a girly thing!
We think she's a natural from all the tea parties she has had with her own girls. Did I tell you that Jen is the mother of 5! How amazing is that!


Whether going around in circles on the Mall Carousel or chasing after Melli, Jen never lets her disability slow her down. She is warm, caring, sensitive and loving. Being around Jen is like being with my own daughters and it was really hard to say good-bye to her.

This is my all time favorite picture of our little Punk Rocker (if only for a night). She will be undergoing another CI surgery on November 5th. Keep her in your prayers.....she should hear what she's been missing!