The room was pin drop quiet. But we could not hear people talking. We could see them talking. One person would finger dance. The other would finger dance back. Goldi and I stood in awe.

” This is how you can talk without making a sound. ” I whispered.

A woman standing nearby looked at me.

Oh dear! I shouldn’t have said anything. At least not with my mouth. Immediately I gave away my identity. I was a hearing person. Well, some deaf people DO speak. ( Sue Thomas for one) But I was NO Sue Thomas. She was multi- talented. I have multi inabilities. Bravely but with my heart pounding madly, I breathed and walked up to the woman who had finished the fastest finger dance I ever saw!

“Hello,” I signed “I am — “

I can’t finger spell very fast. There are five letters of my name. My fingers trembled. I have known all the letters of the alphabet since the fourth grade. I was fingerspelling all kinds of words.Not very fast but I was a good speller. I was signing my name to someone who couldn’t hear. Someone who had no idea who I was. Someone who would never hear their own name being said, but signed.

“Nice to meet you,” she signed back. Her hands and fingers slowed down a bit. “I am Nina” she spelled. After that she took her N hand and rubbed it against her cheek.

Goldi looked at me wearing crinkled up eyebrows. She was afraid so say anything in the supposed silence. I knew that look that said “Huh?”

I looked at her and signed the word name- where you take two fingers from your dominant hand and and bounce them twice on two fingers with your non dominant hand. Then made the sign for sign where you take your index fingers on both hands and circle them on each side. Nina was making her name sign. A sign that states your name without spelling it.

Goldi signed spelled her name to the woman and she politely danced the same words with the same smile.

“I’m Linda.” It was the the first audible word expressed. “A woman from behind had entered and she signed and spoke at the same time.

I looked down at her name tag. Next to her name was the word interpreter. After spelling her name, with one hand she shaped an L and circled it around her chest. She continued to sign and speak at the same time.

“Nice to meet you, Linda, ” I signed trying out the name sign. “How did you get your name sign?” I said with my fingers.

She told me a story about a deaf teacher she once had that worked with her for years. It was this teacher that gave her the name sign. Linda knew we were hearing and learners. She continued by telling us some rules about a name sign:

“You can only get a name sign from someone who is deaf or maybe someone is a parent of a child who is deaf. And they have to know you. You can’t just get a name sign from someone you’ve known for a short time. Don’t ask them for one. ” she said in a quite serious tone.

“Well, I guess we won’t be given a name sign this week after all. ” I told Goldi in the car when we were rested our hands and let our mouths do the talking.

“Oh well, maybe one day..” Goldi said.

We wished for a moment in the silence. What would our name sign look like ?

Would Goldi’s be a G bouncing off her belly because her laugh is so contagious? Would it be a G jumping off the palm of your hand because she loves to jump? Or would it be a G curving up and out of her cheek because she loves to smile ? Whatever the sign, it would take years for a deaf person to KNOW Goldi and give her a name sign.

Until then more learning. More finger dances and body movements and facial expressions and meeting others who have mastered the finger dance. Then maybe one day we will be able to use a name sign and someone else will sign our name back. And we will sign all kinds of names. Names of people who love to read, or cook, or take walks, or take pictures, or color, or swim, or travel, or laugh just like Goldi. Names of people who are deaf and hearing. Until then wait and wonder… what will people think of us? What will they come to know about us to help them give us a name sign?

I don’t know many name signs. I barely remember the two we did learn. But I do know one and you might know it too. You put your hands out with your palms turned sideways. Take your index finger and point to the center of the opposite hand. Take your index finger of your other hands and point to the center of the opposite hands. It’s the most perfect sign for the most perfect person. He had that name sign even before anyone on earth knew him. His Father knew him best and signed his name. And Jesus signed it back to us.

And this shall be a sign: You will find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. Luke 2:12

And you shall call him Jesus because he will save the people from their sins. Matthew 1:21