San Antonio Street Scene: For a Good Cause

4/21/2013

Sunshine Cottage ~ School for Deaf Children
Hildebrand and Devine Road ( under the water tower)

Last weekend I had the chance to do “On Spec” photography at the Sunshine Cottage 5K Run & Ramble held at OP Schnabel Park in Northwest San Antonio.

I must admit that when I arranged for the gig, I had what is likely the stereotypical view of deafness, in that I thought that I would be around a group of children that were unable to communicate and interact in the normal way, and who’s horizons would be limited to a tragic life of signing for everything that they wanted to communicate.

How wrong I was! As I walked into the school to pick up the pre-race packet, I was assaulted by packs of kids transiting in between their classes and their recent outdoor Fiesta season activities. And what were these little munchkins doing?? They were carrying on chatter conversations between themselves, and with their teachers, and the only signing that was going on was when the teacher held out her hand to guide one of the little ones in the right direction... which apparently was away from the playground.

Located right “under” that big water tower at the intersection of Hildebrand and Devine Road, across from Trinity University/Alamo Stadium, the Sunshine Cottage is a wonderful place that promotes early identification and intervention of hearing impairment in children, and for me, stepping onto the bucolic hilltop campus, made possible by the generous and generational gifting from individual and corporate sponsors, such as Wittigs, The Ear Institute of Texas, the Ear Medical Group, and many others, began a weekend of what I can only describe as a spiritual renewal.

Touchy ~ Feely

To understand why I have included reference to the spiritual aspect of what was supposed to be a normal photographic assignment, maybe I should point out that in a previous life I was one of those hard driving “suits”, who ran a small business, and was only concerned with the nuts and bolts of getting the jobs done.

All that touchy-feely stuff was for those weirdo folks who sat under big trees trying to provoke the spirits into enlightening them. Heart Energy, 1st Chakra Grounding, Water and Fire Element ... Love and Compassion ???? What the heck do “those” terms mean??

As I left the school with my info material in hand, I had this strange feeling that something special was happening and when I got to the race venue the next morning, I got that same vibe, for here were the kids doing their “kids” thing again, and sure, while of them had cochlear implants and other devices to assist them, that did not slow them down one bit from being ........ KIDS.

Over there, in between the picnic table was the little pink-caped Princess, twirling in her unicorn and fairy world, without a care in the world and so happy

The Little Princess

that she could experience the “ Just NOW”. Over there was the little one with her thick glasses awry on the bridge of her nose and her jacket agog, outpacing her mom as she made her way to some place that had caught her fancy. Then there was the mom standing by the side of her almost-teenage boy as a loving mother hen, close by but not too close. While nearby there was the other loving mother standing close, but not too close, to her almost teenage daughter. Then, of course, there were the Sunshine Cottage Staff, Connie, and Sara, and volunteers such as Missy herding everybody to their proper places at the proper times and running everything with military drill team precision.

Oh man, what had I walked into?? Yes, I am supposed to be “just a photographer” but there was this infectious energy that emanated from everything. The kids, the parents, the volunteers, and even the people that had come out to race - like one of my friends Rick Klamm, a local who “just likes to run”.