I have to say that I am seeing every day how much knowing and using ASL is going to help me and my family in our daily lives.  I know that there is likely to come a point when I will have some ability to hear/understand more than I can right now.  That may be months away.  I really don’t know.  It’s possible that there won’t be any improvement, but it would be so helpful right now if I could communicate better with it.  I can also see that down the road, no matter what happens with my ability to hear and function I am always going to be a part of two worlds – the deaf/hard of hearing one and the hearing one.  Even if I end up with the cochlear implants and I turn out to be one of the people that does extremely well with them, I think ASL will still be an important part of my life.  There will always be times or moments when I would take off the external part of the cochlear implants and knowing ASL would help me personally; but because I now am also a part of the deaf world, I will want a way to communicate with others who are deaf or hard of hearing, regardless of the outcome for me.  My eyes have been opened to a whole part of our society that I never really noticed before and I don’t ever want to go back.  I want to do what I can to engage with others who face these challenges and make their (and my) world just a little easier and brighter.