She was born during the space race, 1964 to be exact. It was the second happiest day for her parents, Roger and Emily, only after their wedding just a year earlier. Tracy was cute and curious and seemed to love everything and everyone around her. She always tested above age, talking and walking before she was a year old. By the time she was 16 months old, Tracy had already become quite the handful.

That was what was so unusual that Wednesday morning in March. The sun was out, trees had started to bloom, daffodils in their full glory. The robins and mockingbirds chattered as they scrambled for nesting material. It was a glorious day to play outside. Tracy was still snuggled in her bed, hours after she would normally be up and about. Emily went in to check on her.

Tracy stirred but just rolled over, falling back asleep. Instinctively, Emily laid the back of her hand on Tracy’s forehead. She was burning up. Emily got the thermometer from the medicine cabinet in the bathroom and shook it down. Placing it under Tracy’s arm, she paced the floor waiting for it to register. After a couple of minutes, she took it out and gave a look. 106 degrees? Panicked and not knowing what to do, Emily called her Mom on the phone to ask what she should do. She lifted Tracy from her bed and placed her in the bathtub filled with cool water. Tracy screamed from the discomfort. Emily got 4 baby aspirin and had Tracy take them with some ice cold Coca-Cola. She was trying everything to help get the fever down.

Roger drove a truck and called home every evening. “Roger, you have to come home immediately!” urged Emily when she picked up the phone. “Tracy has been running a high fever and I’m worried.” In a firm, but supportive voice, Roger said” It’s alright, Emily. All children get sick and run a fever. It was probably just something she ate and she’ll be fine tomorrow. I should be home some time Saturday.” Roger finally rolled into the driveway early Saturday afternoon.

Tracy’s fever was finally back to normal but she wasn’t acting quite normal. Emily noticed she wasn’t as talkative as she used to be and she didn’t seem to interact with her toys like she did just a week earlier. But what bothered her most was Tracy seemed to be ignoring her, something she had never done in the past. Was she upset with her, the thought crushing to Emily. There was a family gathering the following Saturday at Emily’s parent’s home who lived out in the country on 5 acres of land. Being 1 of 7 children, there were plenty of siblings and nieces and nephews all over the place. Emily noticed Tracy was still being reclusive and called her over to ask what was wrong, but Tracy didn’t respond. Emily called her oldest sister over and asked if she could get Tracy to come over. Janet walked over to Tracy and said “Tracy, come over here.” Tracy just sat there playing with the old spade digging around in the flower bed. Janet walked up right behind her and yelled “TRACY!” Tracy didn’t flinch. A worried look came over everyone’s face who had witnessed the exchange.

The next week, doctors confirmed Roger and Emily’s worst fear. The fever, most likely caused by meningitis, had been too high and had lasted too long. At Tracy’s young age, her fragile inner ears couldn’t handle the extremes. Tracy would be deaf for life. Studying new coping skills, Emily and Tracy learned together. They both learned sign language and as early as 5 years old, Tracy demonstrated that she still had a sense of humor. Riding in the car the Emily was driving, Tracy burst out laughing. Emily quickly shrugged and held her palm up “What?” Tracy signed “Grandmother” and “falling down.”  There, on the car stopped in front of them, was a bumper sticker that read “See Ruby Falls”. Emily’s mother’s name is Ruby.

Tracy excelled in school and in life. Attending the School for the Deaf, she mastered sign language. She used vibrational feedback to help her sound out words. She became adept at reading lips, so much so, everyone had to be careful when talking around her because she knew what you were saying, even from across the room.

She graduated from her high school and even stayed on to teach younger deaf students. She also worked a retail job on the weekends to immerse herself in the public environment. Every 6 months she was back at the audiologist’s office, praying there had been a new procedure developed that would restore her hearing. The answer was always the same. But the winter of 2013 was different. There was new research that was showing promise of restoring at least partial hearing to those that had once heard. Tracy had no memories of being able to hear but the news overjoyed Emily. After months of testing and completing volumes of paperwork, she was accepted into the advanced clinical trial. There would be two of them receiving the digital implant, Tracy and a 20-something male who had also contracted meningitis at 9 months old. Tracy’s surgery was scheduled for February 12, 2014.

To be safe, Tracy was kept in a controlled environment at the hospital. Just as germs can harm a body’s immune system, too much or the wrong kind of noise could harm any progress that might have been made through the implant. There had been very restrictive tests and Tracy had heard her Mom and Dad’s voices, however softly, for the first time in her memory. The operation had been, at least, a partial success. But today had finally come, 50 years after that fateful bout with meningitis, Tracy would go outside and experience nature. They fitted her with noise deadening headphones and led her out to the tranquility garden on the grounds of the hospital. This was to be Roger and Emily’s third biggest day of their lives.

They found a quiet nook away from the other families. A semi-circular bench backed with tall columnar Italian cypress trees and a water fountain in the center. A cool breeze brushed their faces, Tracy, her parents, and the medical staff there to witness the event and handle any problems that might come up. The mockingbirds and other songbirds were chirping, a wind chime could be heard ringing in the distance. A plane flew by overhead. It was a perfect spring morning. The lead physician walked behind Tracy as she sat on the bench between Roger and Emily. The doctor placed one hand on each of the ear cups to lift the headset away. Everyone looked at Tracy in anticipation.

The gallimaufry of noise, though, was too much. “AAAAGGHHHH!” Tracy screamed, which only added to her irritation. “It’s too loud! Turn it down! There’s too much going on! I can’t concentrate, make it go away!” She spun around and grabbed the headset from the doctor and slammed them back on her head. Bent over at the waist, she wrapped both hands over the ear cups to shut out any noise that might try to creep in. It was then that she realized that what she had always considered her our private hell was in reality her own personal sanctuary, a place that she treasured and wanted to stay.