Narrow Escape I was working as receptionist at a car dealership in Gainesville while putting myself through college. One Friday a cute guy in used car detailing asked me to his country home where his neighbor was doing a fish fry that evening. Sounded fun! I went, and enjoyed it, but drank too much. AtContinue reading “Blog Post # 19: Fish Fry Danger”
Author Archives: Donna Gateley
Blog Post # 18: Don’t Touch His Head!
Black Humor My family has had its share of tragedy. I have found, in the midst of tragedy, there are two things that have made me feel better, at least for a few moments. The first, is having the family’s babies around us. Just looking at them brings a smile to my face. The secondContinue reading “Blog Post # 18: Don’t Touch His Head!”
Blog Post # 17: Icy Nebraska and Wild Rides
Narrow Escape In the winter of 2004 my sister Deb, my then 10 year old son Alexandru, Alexandru’s Lego Space Shuttle, Mom’s cat Felix, and I were driving to Utah in a 20 foot U-Haul. The cab seemed very small as we were crammed in shoulder to shoulder. We had left Orlando with my Mom’sContinue reading “Blog Post # 17: Icy Nebraska and Wild Rides”
Blog Post # 16: Dying Of Embarrassment, Literally!
Embarrassing Moments I was in 12th grade typing class when I excused myself to go to the bathroom. I happened to be sucking on a hard candy. While I was washing my hands, I managed to suck the candy into my windpipe. Suddenly I couldn’t breath! I stood there at the sink, trying cough theContinue reading “Blog Post # 16: Dying Of Embarrassment, Literally!”
Blog Post # 15: Love Poems and Signing Slips — The Sequel
Followups to Blog Posts 13 and 14 Followup to Post 13: Family Stories — Grandma Hall Falls In Love At Age 74 In Blog Post 13 I told the story of my Grandma Hall falling in Love with Peter Doke at age 74. I told how she and Peter both loved writing poetry. Well, afterContinue reading “Blog Post # 15: Love Poems and Signing Slips — The Sequel”
Blog Post # 14: ASL — My ASL Bloopers
ASL: Crashing but Learning I want to tell you about a few embarrassing American Sign Language (ASL) bloopers I have made in my life. At least they were embarrassing for me; they proved highly entertaining for the Deaf folks who were watching! Each case involved a pair of words, the appropriate word and the wrongContinue reading “Blog Post # 14: ASL — My ASL Bloopers”
Blog Post # 13: Family Stories — Grandma Hall Falls In Love At Age 74
Frankie Ruth Haswell Hall Grandma Hall was my Mother’s mother. At age 74 she fell in love with Peter Doke, a man she went to high school with in Garfield, Arkansas. He always lived in the country, on a farm. She always lived in a city. They hadn’t seen or communicated with each otherContinue reading “Blog Post # 13: Family Stories — Grandma Hall Falls In Love At Age 74”
Blog Post # 12: Narrow Escape: Dangerous Driving
Narrow Escapes I’ve Had In My Life It was late evening. I was driving home to Tallahassee from Atlanta, Georgia, after attending a 2 day computer training seminar. The drive took me about 4.5 to 5 hours to make. I was tired and ready to get home. It was a completely dark, moonless night. ByContinue reading “Blog Post # 12: Narrow Escape: Dangerous Driving”
Blog Post # 11: Sending My Child To School Naked
Challenges with our special needs deaf son Here is the story of how one day I sent our son to preschool naked. When our special needs son was young it was very hard to get him to do certain things. My overall goal was to get him to cooperate with daily activities. He wasContinue reading “Blog Post # 11: Sending My Child To School Naked”
Blog Post # 10: Mom And Interrupters
My Mom and I regularly wrote emails back and forth, beginning with Compuserve many years ago. We later moved on to AOL. When we adopted a deaf child, Mom learned sign language with no hesitation, so she could come into his world. And she loved watching interpreters, or, as she called them, “interrupters”. I knowContinue reading “Blog Post # 10: Mom And Interrupters”
My Life, by DAG 