@imallears, My mother grew up in an orphanage and learned sign language as a kid and was really good with it. I'm just sorry I didn't learn it from her growing up. I haven't signed up for this yet but am still thinking about it because it's a go at your own pace online course.

Mary, I too find that the receptive skills require much more practice than the expressive skills in ASL. If we don't use it we lose it. And like you Mary, I never became fluent in ASL.

But there have been a few times when I've been able to use sign language to communicate in some challenging circumstances. One was just last week. I was on a "town hall meeting" using Microsoft Teams. My audio out was not working so no one could hear me. I had to type my question into the "chat". One of the attendees who could see me asked if I'd like him to read my question to the attendees for me and I signed "yes". He recognized the sign because he knew ASL and helped me communicate using ASL for the Q&A session.

A person never knows when another language may be helpful. And a person of my advanced years has a brain that can use some mental gymnastics once in a while to slow the aging process. I "signed" up for the classes too.

Jim