/home/jsleeper

Back in 1978, the year before I was born, my parents took in a 12 year old child as a foster child. She had been in foster care her entire life, and apparently she wasn’t in the best situation to grow up in. Her name is Regina. Regina was born completely deaf. Over the next few years my parents learned sign language, taught her some basic things of life (such as tying shoes) and strived to get her the best education they could (at that time Norfolk Public Schools was horrible with dealing with deaf students).

Around 1983 or so (don’t know the exact time), after my sister Cheryl was born, they adopted Regina. I then had a big sister - Regina Sleeper. We were in West Virginia I think when that happened. After we moved to Columbus, Ohio, she was going to school where she was gone all week. When we moved back to Norfolk, VA she stayed there - eventually moving to the Washington, DC area.

Regina usually visited twice a year - Christmas and sometime around Memorial Day if I remember correctly. That stopped around ten years ago. Something happened with Regina and her relationship with my family. I won’t go into it because that’s not important and don’t really know the exact details. The one thing that I do know is that my parents would really love to reconcile and rebuild that relationship with their daughter. I would like to see that too.

Regina turns 40 today. Wherever you are Regina, I want to wish you a happy birthday. I hope and pray that you are safe, happy and healthy.