Today was activation day.

It’s hard to even put into words what this moment feels like.

I can hear!!!!!

After 494 days of silence, my world opened back up today. When they turned on my cochlear implant and I heard sound again for the first time since everything went quiet.

It’s not perfect yet.

Everything sounds funny, robotic, and a little like the world is speaking through a microphone in a sci-fi movie. 

But it’s sound. Real sound. 

And my brain now gets to relearn how to understand it.

There will be a lot of training ahead — podcasts, audiobooks, and listening exercises to teach my brain how to translate these new signals into the sounds we all take for granted.

The very first podcast I turned on was The Moth

And the first song I listened to was “Lease on Life.”

It felt fitting.

Because after 494 days of quiet, today really does feel like getting a lease on life again.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me through this journey — the messages, the encouragement, the prayers, and the patience while I navigated a silent world.

Now I need your help…

🎧 Send me your favorite podcasts and audiobooks!

I’ve got a lot of listening homework to do.

Today, the world is a little robotic…

but it’s also beautifully loud again. ❤️

Activation day!