Signing...

"I took my love and I took it down
Climbed a mountain then I turned around
And I saw my reflection in the snow covered hills
Well the landslide brought me down

Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides
Can I handle the seasons of my life

Uh ah ... uh ah .... uh ah ...

Well, I've been afraid of changin'
'Cause I built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Children get older
I'm getting older too

Well ..."
-Dixie Chicks
from the album HOME

I was sitting in the back of the car, kind of trying to adjust to the sound - I've not been a real dixie chicks fan - when the song comes on. Now I'm sitting in the back because I'm being driven by my friend's Aunt and her son. Her son has Down's syndrome and during the first several years of his life, they didn't think he could hear anything - thought he was completely deaf. Around the time of his sixth birthday though, his hearing appeared to show itself and they could start speaking to him as they would any other child.

Up until this point, his family and friends had been using sign language to communicate with him For some reason this song brings back a memory to my friend's Aunt and she begins singing along, but signing the words to her son sitting next to her. When he realises what she is doing, he laughs out loud, takes his earphones out of his ears, and joins in.

I am treated to the amazing spectacle of the song being signed as we drive along, a personal form of stage. The poetic beauty of sign language only really comes across when it's accompanying music, and here the joy of it was clear, with the simplistic forms often used allowing even me to understand some of what they were signing - especially with the musical accompanyment carrying on the whole time.

The special bond of someone signing for another is unique I think, in part because one has to watch the person doing the signing, to really pay attention. And the person signing has to really pay attention to what they're translating (if that is what they're doing) because there is a need to convey the emotion, to put feeling into the movements.

The laughter I heard that day was like nothing I'd heard before - completely enclosed and full of love. And I loved the song by the time it was over, because you begin to really understand.