Before leaving for work, C-Note started pulling on the back of my shirt and wouldn’t let me out the door. Having just sprang out of bed, she wasn’t wearing her hearing aid or CI at the time, but she had something very important to say and was determined to make sure I got the memo. She pulled me to the foot of her bed and turned my knees so that they were facing out the windor. Next, she parted the curtains and raised the blinds and looked me dead in the eye. “Daddy, will you watch the leaves fall with me, please?” Then she climbed into my lap and pulled both of my arms about her and set her head on my shoulder. I closed my eyes and pulled her close to me and we watched the leaves falls across the yard like snow.

In that brief time I wasn’t worried about making it to work on time. I was enjoying my priviledge of being a father, C-Note’s father, and hoping I never forgot this moment. “No implant, Daddy, just leaves.” she said. I nodded okay and squeezed her even tighter, while resting my chin lightly against her pretty, black hair. A little later, we said our good-bye’s and I found myself back in go mode. I’ve driven the country roads between home and Creedmoor, NC more times than I ever thought I would, but seeing the leaves falling like snow, made me think about something in a whole new light.

In my haste to make sure that my daughter can hear me, am I making equal effort to make sure that I’m hearing her? “No implant, Daddy, just leaves.”

I picked up my Blackberry and called my wife immediately, “Hon, I think C is trying to tell us something and I want to run it by you to see what you think. She’s been wearing her implant continuously since activation, but this morning, she didn’t want to wear it while we were watching the leaves. Do you think there might be times when she would enjoy going unplugged? I don’t think it would be a rejection of the technology as much as it would be a desire to just be C. What do you think?”

It didn’t take long before we agreed to try to be more in touch with times when C wanted (needed?) to tune out. When I came home from work, it was different. My girl didn’t hear me opening the door and didn’t come running as she does every afternoon. I rounded the corner of the house and found her coloring contently at the kitchen table while my wife was heating up some homemade soup.C smiled when I kissed her on the head and then got back to business drawing stick figure princesses at a party. I sat at the table and chatted with my wife about Facebook updates and world news (in that order) and watched C-Note color for a bit. It was nice.

Though less than 24 hrs. ago, I honestly don’t know (or care) about how much time C spent wearing her implant yesterday. The most important thing is that we came to a new understanding of what we can do to listen to each other and actually did something about it to help us truly “Be Here Now.”