Sign Language, Shows, Arizona school for Deaf preschoolers and A Letter From My Uncle!

me with the lead teacher and the Deaf pre-schooler class ...

me asking "Bobby" . "What color are your shoes"?? He's saying he has "Blue shoes" !

Me asking "Nathan" in ASL "What are you wearing today?"

me on far right with my Sign Language Interpreting friends from church in AZ

Me in Newspaper getting the "V.I.P.S" Award!!

Hello Luvs,

***JUST A LIL NOTE TO LET YOU KNOW YOU CAN JUST "CLICK" ON THE PICTURES OR NEWSPAPER ARTICLES TO BRING THEM UP BIG SO YOU CAN READ THEM!!! JUST FYI!! XO

  Just a little note to say "hello" to all and check "in" with everyone. I've gotten some wonderful comments, keep them coming! I love them...and "thank  you so much"!! It's awesome when you write something and someone actually reads it eh? 

    "What's new" you ask?  First of all Craig is home this week on his "Spring Break", because he's an elementary school teacher (4th grade) and we have been able to spend this whole week together! I love it! Amy's been working alot and her school for the semester is almost done and she's gotten herself 2 part time jobs for the Summer! You Go Girl!! Today, Craig and I drove to Ann Arbor and we met Amy at our favorite little restaurant in town and we all had lunch together! She walked over from work on her lunch hour to our favorite little spot "Afternoon Delight" and we split an eggs benidict and an order of cinnamon raisin toast with brown sugar on it!!! MMMMM it's to die for!!!  NO...really...it's yummy on my taste buds and goes right to my hips of course!! LOL

   We had such a lovely lunch and then walked around town a bit. Went into a few of the little shops and it was so windy and chilly by that time and it was time for Amy to return to her job and her lunch time hour was over!  She text'd me and told me that she did in fact get the  2nd part time job for which she applied; for over the Summer! " YAY..you go girl!!" I'm so proud of her...she works so hard and does so much and it pays off because she almost always finds ways to work things out so she gets  the best situation for herself!

    I got some great news yesterday at the Hematologist Dr.! He said that he was going to give me an "IV of INFED" for my "anemia of chronic disease" from having the Chronic Kidney Disease ,Stage II. Then he had his nurse draw my Hemoglobin and it was for the first time in about 5 yrs over 12.!!! YAY!! It was actually 12.3, which for me is great because mine is very low and in the past I've had  3 blood transfusions because of it getting down to 8.0! I am not sure if I've ever mentioned how I may have acquired CKD-II or Chronic Kidney disease stage II? It's possible because as I was growing up  I was put on diets in which I was "starved and poisoned"; all for the purpose of losing weight (given syrup of Ipecac when someone gave me "bad food" such as cake or cookies or ??). I have "tubulo-interstitial nephritis", which means the tubes from my kidneys and my kidneys themselves, are too small; or smaller than normal. Partially this could have happened in the womb as my mom had 8 miscarriages and a stillborn baby girl and a baby boy  who lived for 2 days and then died because his lungs weren't developed enough. As for my stillborn baby sister, "Lisa", mom said that the Dr. had given her oral polio vaccine that day and the baby just stopped moving at 8 mos in utero! What an awful thing to have happen!!! My poor mom! But it still wasn't so nice what she said to me when she got angry with me when I was about 11 yrs old! She told me that she "wishes that I would have died instead of Lisa and if Lisa would've lived, she would've given me a "run for my money with the boys" and she probably would've been a nurse or something spectacular." Well, my mom always thought that my sign language degree in Interpreting for the Deaf was a "stupid degree" and useless. 

   I have to respectfully disagree . I worked with Deaf preschooler's in Arizona from 1982/83 and taught speech/auditory training. I was in several drama groups at ASU and had so much fun while doing it! I also interpreted for the Deaf at church services. I then later returned to Michigan and worked for several school systems and magnet schools with Deaf programs for the hearing impaired students and got to interpret for them during their school day and classes. It was awesome.  When I had to get a job with insurance; I went to Univ. of Michigan Hospitals and was hired as an Interpreter for the Deaf through Patient Services and also worked as a secretarial "float" when I wasn't interpreting.  

   Later in life,  I also got to visit Gallaudet University in Washington DC a few times! It was awesome. I had the pleasure to meet a very smart and wonderful Deaf/Blind man named "Arthur Roehrig" who is the head of students with disabilities at Gallaudet University. He came to Michigan, to Madonna University (the University which I had attended) and he did a workshop on "Deaf/Blind interpreting". I was mesmerized by him and fascinated that someone who cannot see or hear could achieve so much and complain so little!

     I did some Deaf/Blind interpreting after that and it became my "specialty". I even did volunteer Interpreting for medical screening for Deaf, and Deaf/Blind senior citizens.  It was awesome and made me feel really great and the people were some of the nicest I've ever met in my lifetime!

     As time went on, I loved doing the interpretive dance with Sign Language at the Neuman Center at ASU. We put on "productions" for people and they'd pay to come and watch us perform. We put the money to good use for the Deaf schools etc. One time when I was involved with the group called "Silent Impressions Productions"; I got asked at the last minute (3 weeks prior to show start date when everyone else had been practicing for 9 months and I had 3 weeks to learn the choreography and the "proper choreographed" signing!! (YIKES) to stand in and take the part of someone who could no longer be in the production of "Nights On Broadway" to be held at ASU in the auditorium and with a paid admission and a "full house! I was nervous, but I learned all of the dance numbers and the right signing that they needed for the songs to "flow" and it went off without a "hitch"!  My aunts and cousin came to see me in the play and I loved every minute of doing it and being a part of something like that!

   Later on in my life, after I had my girls and when I started to have "Fridays" off from work at the hospital; I started up a "sign language group" at the elementary school! Prior to that,I would yearly take in my TDD or "teletype device for the Deaf" (its' a machine that the Deaf used to use so they could make phone calls before we all had cell phones, skype, texting and face talk etc.!!!) and I would explain and show the machine to the children and teach them about Sign Language and Deaf people, Deaf Culture and Deafness! Then I would read a book about "Friendship and someone who's Deaf". Lastly, I would do a song in Sign Language and then teach them a few signs.

     We would practice every Friday after school. I would teach 30-32 4th and 5th grade students sign language to 4 or 5 songs and at the end of the year we 'd perform these for the school and the parents! It turned out wonderful and the kids come up to me still today and they say they remember me and they remember the "Eriksson Elementary Silent Impressions Sign Language Club". I got them all t-shirts with that written on it and a hand sign for "I Love You" on them also. I would usually pick a few kids that were extra good at it and let someone do a "solo" or a group song with about 4 or 5 kids doing it at once and then maybe I'd do the chorus or something...but it turned out wonderful every year! I'm so glad to have the VHS tapes of those shows, but hopefully sometime I'll learn how to put them on DVD and maybe put some of it up on here one day?

    I'm not sure how I got off on this tangent but it was a good one! It is also how I met my soul-mate, my husband of now 14 1/2 years, my Craig! He is the love of my life and I love him with all of my heart and soul and I feel the love come back to me. He was my daughter, Jessy's 4th grade teacher and NO, we didn't "DATE" while she was in his class...for the most part!! LOL...We did meet for coffee on the "sly" each driving separately and meeting there at the coffee shop. Then after she was out of his class we started dating seriously. Although on our first date we told each other "I'm not looking to ever get married again, I'm just dating." We were both saying it and feeling it and we both were "cool" with it...so we continued to go out!

    I ended up winning the "V.l.P.S." award in the school system after my 4th year of doing the Sign Language club and being the "Jump rope team coach". I went into their elementary school to:  help with field trips, to aid with testing children's reading and time telling and money skills; and then I even popped popcorn for the classes to sell each bag for .25cents and the money would go to their classroom. I was "suggested" for the award by my "now" Husband and "back then" fiance'. But.....many other people were up for the award also...about 27 people in all, the school board superintendent told me later. So I did win it fair and square and was "voted" on etc. and I didn't get it because I was dating the teacher that nominated me! That made me feel good because I didn't want it if I hadn't deserved it honestly. I spoke with the Superintendent and he had his secretary take me out to lunch and everything! He told me I truly deserved the "Volunteer In Public Schools Award" for all the years that I'd done volunteer work for the school! I was elated and proud and felt like I'd really accomplished something special. 

    So..although my mom is passed away now in 2002, from Colon cancer...and she told me she "loved me infinitey" before she died. I took that as "love and an honest ask for forgiveness" from her and I told her that "I loved her also" and I told her "everything was OK, Mom, I love and forgive you". I know she never wanted to watch me sign songs like my dad did. He would ask me to sign songs for people when they came over to visit! LOL...how embarrassing! ...But they always did think it was "dumb" for me to go into that profession because I wasn't a "pharmacist" like my older brother.  I did my best and I went after a degree in what I love doing and I got to do it for awhile! 

    When I became a single mom and had to work full time and put my girls into day care, I really had to get a better job with full benefits etc. That's when I got in at the Univ. of Michigan as the Secretarial "float".  It was later, after a few years that I got given a pager and then paged when a Deaf patient came into the hospital for me to leave and go and interpret for them with their Dr's or ER etc.

So....I guess it wasn't the most money I could have made in my life...but I got to work with children, my first love! I love kids and I love sign language and I loved performing. I'm so glad that I had the chance to do all of those things in my life.

     The accident happened in 2002, then all of the pain and surgeries and the heart attack, atrial fib, stroke and the worst thing of all ...."losing"my oldest daughter when she was just 18 yrs old! I'd raised her mostly alone and we were a "team". We truly loved each other and cared deeply for each other. Something got lost somewhere when she started to grow up and test out some "bad" things. I was trying to be the best mom that I knew how to be by saying "no" and "we have rules in this house!". Maybe one day when she has children, if she does...maybe she'll then understand. I will wait and wait forever if that is what it takes for her to return to me in her heart. She is my daughter, I love her with all of my heart. I have never stopped loving her and no one is perfect! Doing it all by myself and being the mom and the "dad" for many years and working full time, was pretty taxing...but many people do it now days. We even were involved in the YMCA "Indian Guides Program"; so that I could do something special with them and spend more quality time with the girls because I had to work full time.

   Well, it's time to close...this started out as maybe what seemed to possibly be a "odd" blog today. But it ended up taking me on a  trip down memory lane. I enjoyed my little "trip" today as I hope you have also. I know there were some things at the beginning that I'm sure were a bit uncomfortable.   

     Some of  the things my parents did /said to me were not pleasant. But I lived through it and I'm a survivor, not a victim..no matter how many illnesses or how much pain gets thrown at me. No matter how much abuse continues from my father and brothers.  The horrible lies and twisted truths in which my own oldest daughter has said and done now; with help from my ex/ her dad/their dad..and with help from my own father and brothers...and alot of "help" from the guy who ran through that red light on August 11, 2002! I will still continue to be a survivor and I will continue to help people and talk to people when they are in pain and try to get them through their day if I have to! I will continue to be a "chemo-angel" and send "small gifts and notes of encouragement and uplifting stories and love to my "buddies" going through chemotherapy. I will continue to do these things because the day I stop, will also be the same day that I stop breathing because love, kindness, truth, honesty and caring are what make my world go around! I won't let or allow the bad things that happened to me and that still seem to continue to happen to me from every angle...to take over my life!! I am in control and I may have: Chronic intractable pain, RSD/CRPS, Atrial Fib, past history of heart attack and stroke and much nerve pain, poly-neuropathy and nerve damage that is painful along with many herniated discs and many things wrong including the Dysautonamia/POTS/NCS and the painful after effects of the car accident....but "IT" DOESN'T HAVE ME!!!! It never will!!! 

P.S&added material     

      I just wanted to add that the reason that I put the letter from my Uncle on this blog today is because I have been getting some "threatening" inbox messages from my abusive brother.  He thinks he can tell me who I can write to and I think if someone doesn't want to hear from me, they will tell me themselves.   

        I am not what they say, just because they say it! My attorney used to tell me that too! 

    I pray for them. I  forgive them. I am a good person and I will continue to soldier on in this world that seems so unfair sometimes. I know that I can either make things better or worse and I choose to make things better by moving on with my life and trying to "let go and let GOD" and be happy in my life with my husband who is so loving and kind and my younger daughter who is so loving and a beautiful person inside and out!"

***********This is a copy of what I received in my "inbox" on Facebook today, from my brother and it came from nowhere! I didn't contact him. I had him blocked and I do not know how he got into my "inbox" to write this hateful stuff. The first one you can see he is being very nasty but in a hidden way.
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between You and David S. Moody

April 20 at 2:08pm Report

How come you don't have any pictures posted for everyone to see? Was wondering if you're well enough yet for us to connect? David

April 21 at 11:14am Report

It is in your best interest from a legal perspective to STOP reaching out to those that are NOT reaching out to you. It is considered internet stalking and it is a criminal offense. Your defamation of character about all of us and your internet stalking will be handled by the Police and the legal system. Will they allow you to have your computer and your medications when you're locked up in jail? Leave all of us alone and stop posting, texting, calling or contacting us ALL in any way..the Police have advised me to warn you

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       Thank you for reading my blog today!! Keep your chin up...if I can...YOU can too!  Peace and blessings to you...today and every day...love,Suzy

**THIS IS A VIDEO OF THE MADONNA UNIVERSITY SIGN LANGUAGE CLUB*** DOING A "LADY GAGA"







   (Above)** this is the letter that my Uncle (my mom's youngest brother, Greg) sent to me after he had called and spoken to Dr. K on my behalf!