I'm counting this as Thursday

I have had better days in Washington! Today started out great, and then wasn't so great, but in the last hour I've tried to put it all into perspective. This morning I went to a Habitat for Humanity site to interview volunteers for an article I was working on. They told me all about the house they were building and how much work they have left to do. When I was getting ready to leave the site supervisor told me that one of the homeowners of a completed house was outside working in her yard and that I could ask her questions if I wanted to. To my complete shock, she was deaf. I went from wondering how on earth I was going to interview her to wondering how on earth I had gone so long assuming that I wouldn't have to communicate with someone who wasn't able to communicate the way I expected. I felt very narrow-minded for a little while and then immediately wished I knew sign language. Thankfully, the woman was very sweet and was happy to answer the questions I wrote down on my notepad. I left with an obvious, but new realization that I can't assume everyone will be able to hear me or speak to me. I'm going to look for ASL classes when I get back to Texas. I went to the office to work on the story for a little while and then left to interview the Boys and Girls Club director about their lunch program. I went back to the office and continued working on my habitat story. My story changed quite a bit during the editing phase and that was definitely frustrating. Other frustrating things included missing yoga class, my phone not receiving text messages and finding out that I need to submit my internship evaluation essay tomorrow instead of when my internship is over. And on top of all that, I felt very homesick. But, I have a home, I have a new appreciation for my ability to communicate, there will be other articles, my paper will get done, my phone eventually got the messages and I'll be home soon. Plus, I had time to think about this while I followed an online yoga class.