By the time I figured all this out, the divorce was far behind us. I did see my dad once in a while; he even came to live in Maryland for a short time. But we didn’t reconnect in a meaningful way—we still haven’t, to this day. But I do forgive him, for everything. The storms weren’t all on him. If he’d had access to language and education while growing up, who knows? As a Deaf person, I don’t have time to be upset at my own people.
