(waiter)
What would you like to drink?

A Shirley Temple.

(waiter)
OK.

(Marianne)
<i>Heather being implanted at nine years</i>

<i>of age to me was a gift, the greatest</i>

<i>I could have ever received.</i>

<i>Would I have liked it to have been</i>

<i>earlier? Yeah, I would've.</i>

But you know what, she wasn't, and you

deal with that and you do the best you can

for her. In the short time that she's been

implanted, her speech has improved

tremendously, and since she went into

hearing school, it's made a tremendous

change altogether.

(teacher)
<i>Heather functions very well in class.</i>

<i>She's probably in the top ten of her class</i>

<i>and she scores very well in all of her</i>

exams, and overall she's just

enthusiastic and energetic. She wants to

do well, and if she doesn't do well

she'll do it again.

(Italian teacher)
Una tazza di te? (asks for translation)

She'd rather drink tea.

(teacher)
A cup of tea. Una tazza di te.

Very good. Excellent. And [more Italian]?

[answers]

(teacher)
Very good.

I don't think that Heather would even

perceive herself as being disabled.

If this was a silent movie, you would be

like, "Whoa, this kid is popular!"

(Heather giving presentation)

(principal)
<i>Most of the kids know her.</i>

<i>Not because of her disability. They know</i>

<i>her for her personality.</i>

Now she's in an environment where the

rest of the world is, and she's thriving,

so we can assume that, y'know,

if everything remains constant, she'll be

very successful in the world as an adult.

And this is the type of world that Heather

now has opened up to her.

She can do whatever her talents
will allow her to.

(volleyball coach)
We are a tough [????]

and I'm sorry I have to decide here. We're

going to be cutting down from 23 to 16.

So what I'm looking for today is

coachability, attitude, people that listen

as well as their physical skills. OK? Go!

(sound of running, hitting balls)

You are on the team. I'm gonna tell you

now so that you can tell your parents

every day, here, 4:45. Got it? Every day.

I made the team!

(music)

(Marianne)
<i>Hello, you look familiar.</i>

(Heather)
I made the team!

Congratulations!

OK, so when's practice going to be?

(Heather)
Every day, here.

(Marianne)
Oh, it's going to be here? 4:45?

Yep.

(Marianne)
And it's five days a week?

Oh, your poor grandmother.

(Marianne)
<i>I see her communicating, I see her</i>

<i>existing in the hearing world. To me,</i>

<i>she's a walking miracle.</i>

What do we have to do? Read the directions.

Mix first --

Mix first what?

The first three in ...

- Ingredients.
-Yeah, that.

No, you say it!

- Incredi --
- Ingredients.

Incredients.

Gimme your arm. Ingredients.

- Ingredients.
- Better.

But it's actually a mixture --

What was the three? It was the

(speaking together)
cream cheese, egg yolk,

and half a cup of sugar.

Is it a half, or a quarter? Half a cup.

Go in there and get one of the --

(something about sugar)

That's a mixture for something else.

Open the closet and see
if there's a half cup.

Just find the one that says half.

(Heather)
There's only full cups.

(Marianne)
No, there's a half there, absolutely.

You know what's amazing, Heather?

- Do you know what's amazing about you?
- What?

I'm able to stand over there and tell you

everything, and you're not even 
looking at me. You couldn't

have done that three years ago.

You have made -- what do you mean, shrug

your shoulder? -- You have made such

unbelievable strides. I'm so proud of you.

I love you to death. I mean,

three years ago, I'd have to -- this would

take twice as long because I'd have to

stop, make sure you're looking at me ...

Look at you now.

- Aren't you impressed with that?
- Nope.

Why? Yes, you are! Yes, you are.

You like it.

(Italian music)

If we win today and tomorrow,

we might be in the playoffs.

Oh! Well, that's good. If you win today.

And tomorrow.

(Marianne)
Oh, and tomorrow.

(Peter)
<i>I see that Heather is now part of both</i>

<i>the deaf </i>and<i> the hearing worlds.</i>

Before, she was only in the deaf world.

But now, she has the opportunity to be

in both. So I understand what she wants.

I understand Heather's wishes.

And at first I was scared to let her go,

but I can see now, she navigates

between the two worlds easily.

I'm satisfied. I'm relieved.

My family is the same. We sign at home,

on the outside my kids talk. I don't care!

When they are with hearing people, that's

their life. They wanna talk and enjoy it,

that's fine. When we're together, we sign.

(Marianne)
<i>Now your father's doing serious business.</i>

(Heather)
<i>Eating is one of his professions!</i>

Tell Grandpa what you said.

Eating is one of his professions.

Eating is one of Peter's professions.
(laughs)

Serious business.

(Peter)
<i>For me, the priority is to keep</i>

the family together, for support, for

contact. Like my sister and her husband

have kids with cochlear implants too,

and they live right next door to us.

So between us --