Communication wasn’t easy when I started dating Lynn. She was deaf, and my sign language was limited to the alphabet. Lynn would wait patiently for me to spell out a word and then teach me its sign.
The tedious process was worth it. Taking the time to really communicate only brought Lynn and me closer. I was fluent in sign language by our wedding day and our 10 children also learned.
Lynn was killed in a car accident in June 1999. “She’s with God in heaven,” I told our children. But silently I wished I knew that for sure. If only she could tell me, I thought. Communication had been a challenge for us in the past, but now it was totally impossible.
Weeks later a summer storm knocked out our power, and I took three of the children down the block to pick up an extra flashlight from the police station where I worked. Is Lynn all right, Lord? I was still asking as we walked along.
I glanced up at the sky. The dark storm clouds had parted, leaving a large patch of blue. A single white cloud floating in the center looked like a hand. “Kids, look!” I exclaimed. “Up in the sky!”
The children gasped. “The cloud’s signing,” my daughter Jackie cried. “It’s saying, ‘I love you!'” The cloud broke up quickly in the stormy winds, but it didn’t matter. Once again sign language had brought our family closer.
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