Book Launch Guest Post: Meanwhile I Keep Dancing by Tamsin Coates

For many years whenever our lives hit a further struggle, an element of frustration at our situation or a moment of victory I would share a thought about it with a trusted friend who always said ‘there’s another one for your book’. She always expressed this in such a way that conveyed that she believed that one day I would produce it. I always laughed and shrugged her comments off as something which had been a childhood dream of mine- to write a book- but one which I could not envisage coming to fruition.

A decade later and here we are. My dream has become reality in the form of ‘Meanwhile I Keep Dancing’. My book gets its title from the quote by Hillel ‘I get up. I walk. I fall down. Meanwhile I keep dancing’ and describes the journey I have taken as a hearing parent of my two sons, who are profoundly deaf. Whilst making steps of progress we have encountered new decisions and obstacles which have stopped us in our tracks for a time. But whilst dealing with every difficult part of our lives we have learned to enjoy as many spontaneous moments and shared times with others which have offered themselves as beacons of light in stark contrast to the darkness which can shadow our daily struggles and turmoil at times.

In bringing up my sons, our family has been plunged into a whole new world which we have had to learn the ways, and politics of, before finding a position where we are comfortable to place ourselves within it. Having worked as a health professional for nearly a decade I have benefitted from a unique insight into life ‘on both sides of the fence’ and describe that within the book.

Whilst I have written this book for other parents to know they are not isolated and to share stories from our life, which they can identify with, it also offers a glimpse of our way of life for others to peek into. A way of life which may not be obvious from the outside but which influences how we relate to those around us, which makes us laugh or cry and includes several comical disasters with expensive equipment being put through a hot wash and even flushed!

Writing this book has been cathartic for me and I only hope it will give insight to the quandaries we have faced and give strength to other families who read it.

Meanwhile I Keep Dancing

is available from 

Action Deafness Books