Dane?

I've wanted a Great Dane ever since I read the book Amazing Gracie. I'm a big dog person...the bigger the dog, the more I like it. (Ok, so that's not always true, case in point- little Barely is only 50 pounds.) We have a Great Dane named Mickey who always boards at the kennel I work at. He has to stay in the break room because he's so big and he's pretty slobbery but all-in-all he's just a really sweet guy. I love that some people might find them scary when in reality I don't think I've ever met a mean Dane. The major thing holding me back (besides the potentially colossal vet bills) is that they generally only live to be around 7 years old or so. A seven year old Dane is considered elderly...how sad is that? I think the general 11-13 years for a Lab is way too short as it is, but 7 years?! That's heartbreaking. But against my better judgement, I've been looking to Danes for adoption online (I've sworn to never buy another dog). There's this one really sweet looking girl named Babbette who pretty much stole my heart. She's deaf but I don't really think that'd be much of a problem. It says she's currently learning hand signals and I don't think it'd be overly difficult to teach...dogs learn body language and signals better than verbals anyway. Oh god, I can't imagine what my parents would say if I brought home a Great Dane lol! I'll definitely have to have my own place before I get one.