I did it!

Your morning Coco

I finally made it to another ASL Meetup. It’s been a whopping two and a half years since the last one I hit. I'd had a great time and thought I'd become a regular attender. The compère though, the group's organizer made it pretty damn clear that I was an odd, old, superfluous babe. Yup,  I took the hint and never went back.

All this time I’ve intended to get to the one held in Harvard Square but:

A) after my last embarrassment, I was a wee bit reluctant to say the least.
B) Sunday 4PM is Tea Time! That’s practically sacrosanct!
C) Don'cha know, I’ve kinda been busy with this grief shit. Exhausting stuff. I need a boatload of energy to take these social chances and I’ve been running on empty.

And then, waddya know, the dude who runs the very popular Cambridge group pinged saying he’d be in Braintree (one town south of moi) and was anyone interested in having a Meetup there.

YES! 

Lately, I've been stewing over my need to get up and outta my tiny, approaching claustrophobic comfort zone. In the long run, pushing myself outta the nest, taking risks, meeting new people, learning and growing will make me happy and feel more complete. That all sounds lovely and is a great plan, no? Yeah but this is still some scary-ass shit!

After Google mapping the location, I motored down to Braintree. There was a not insignificant part of my bean thinking, I’ll get lost (I always get lost. Hell bells, I can get lost on the way to the damn bathroom) and then I can just go home for Tea,

Yup, I got lost BUT not hopelessly so. I found parking in the area and figured I’d wander on foot. Turns out I’d, incredibly, parked right in front of the joint!

The group was welcoming and had WAY better ASL chops than I. Wouldn't take much though. I was seriously at sea and a little freaked until one of the attendees whipped out her laptop. She was showing her artwork to the person sitting next to me.

Whoa! Something I could relate to! A topic I’m not a stranger to! Let me in!

Lierre Kandel is a talented, fun painter. Some of her ink drawings remind me, a little bit, of Linda Baker-Cimini’s work. There’s a similar gritty humor and, OH baby, that speaks to me.

The ASL group’s host/organizer is a wonderful, warm, smart fellow named Sean. As it tuns out, wildly, we know some of the same people AND he’s read my blog (specifically my bits about the South Shore Meetup let down). Hah, this was totally unexpected! Between this and art talk with Li, I didn’t feel like such a wonk-ass, awkward, old alien.

I’m def going to next Sunday’s session in Harvard Square. I’ll take the T in so’s I avoid traffic and parking trauma. Also, today, I’ll reignite my language study so I’m somewhat less lost in the forest of swirling, signing hands.

I CAN do this.