you're hearing? you should be an interpreter

A brief way into almost all of my conversations on campus thus far, I have told whomever I am talking to that I am a visiting student and, inevitably, that I am hearing. This has provoked numerous responses, most of surprise. The vast majority of people register this fact, take into account what little they have seen of my signing, and tell me that I ought to be an interpreter. I, of course, take this as the most profound of compliments. “You’re hearing?! Your signing is beautiful/you sign really well/wow I thought you were Deaf/some variation on this…. You should be an interpreter.” I find it hard to believe that just anyone who is hearing and signs gets this reaction. Undoubtedly, this sort of statement requires a certain competence, fluency, and grasp of ASL. So… despite my doubts, and despite my various miscommunications over the past week, I have a certain amount of confidence in my signing. As to whether I may some day become an interpreter? Well that is as up in the air as anything else I might some day do.