Tag Archives: Guide Dogs for the Blind

Dog Day, August 20, 1975

20 Saturday Aug 2016

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had to repost. between my screen reader and word spell checker crashing, there were a few errors. I have a problem sometimes with getting the shift key for capital letters especially on letters with the baby finger like A and Q. enjoy this revamped version.

First Guide Dog Training

For those who read this who have had guide dogs, you’ll read about things like the instructors bringing us the dogs’ food bowls, meals already made up. And what is now called a patio outside the rooms was once a dog run, where we let the dogs out for the first two weeks of training. My, how things have changed! And though I don’t like all the changes, this is a good change, handling our dogs’ food ourselves and leash relieving from the start. Enjoy.

Dog Day!
August 20, 1975

It’s the middle of the morning on Dog Day. We just had obedience practice again. I had Juno Underwood. He was very good, except that he did not want to sit one time. I gave him a good correction and he straightened up. When we were through Mr. Underwood told me that I have everything down good. We’re going out with the harnesses to downtown San Rafael in a while. First, the three instructors have to go have a “pow-wow”, (Mr. Ainsworth’s words”, with the big-wigs about their dog choices for us.
In just a few short hours I will have my precious Dog! I’m so excited that I wish I could just go to sleep till then, because the anticipation is super crazy. I even drank two glasses of milk to try and keep my stomach in line. That was at breakfast I had the milk. I’m so nervous too. Will the dog like me? What if the dog doesn’t like me? Damn! How I want that dog! God, please, let the dog like me!!!!!!!!!!!
This morning’s workout was pretty good. I was out with Juno Ainsworth. No more Juno! Hooray! Mr. Ainsworth told me that I am very intelligent and that I have a lot going for me. I was probably blushing a thousand shades of red!
We had a lecture on grooming when we got back here after the workout. It was hard to concentrate because I was getting super excited about this afternoon!
Mr. Post sat at our table for lunch today. He is as crazy as everyone says he is. He kept purposely messing up our names and cracking jokes. I like him.
I don’t know if I’m going to make it till I get my dog!
At 1:15 we all gathered in the loading lounge. We had a lecture about getting our dogs and how we would be doing that. I kept fidgeting around and wished he would just get it over with. People kept asking questions and I wanted to yell at them to just shut up so we could hear about our dogs!
Finally, Mr. Jenkins read the list of who was getting what. He called the name, then would say they were getting and say the gender and breed and name. Then he spelled the name and said it again. I was glad Gomes is near the beginning of the alphabet. Finally, it was my turn. Mr. Jenkins said,
“Miss Gomes, you are receiving a female black Labrador Retriever named Quincy. Q. U. I. N. C. Y. Quincy.”
Quincy! My dog is Quincy! At first I wasn’t sure I liked that name. It’s a boy’s name. But by the time I was back here in my room, waiting, I loved the name.
I’m now here in my room, writing this and trying to keep my mind occupied while I’m waiting to be called to the instructors’ room to meet Quincy. It’s not occupying my mind very much. I’m also listening to the movie Jaws. I snuck my tape recorder into the movie theater in a big purse and taped it. But it’s not occupying my mind yet. Not even Richard Dreyfuss can keep me from wishing they’d hurry up and call me! I wonder if pacing will help. Or tearing at my hair. Or biting my nails. When will they call me! Oh, God, I’m so nervous! I’m shaky, and there’s a sort of empty feeling in my stomach. I sure hope I get her soon!
I got Quincy soon after writing that part. Mr. Jenkins called me, and I grabbed my leash and practically flew down to the instructors’ room. They had me sit in a big chair against the wall, and they let Quincy in from the run and let her sniff around the room for a few minutes, while they described her to me. Finally she came over to see who I was. I petted her and talked to her. She’s so small and cute. And she’s all wiggly. After a few minutes, they told me to snap the leash to her collar and take her back to my room. We don’t have any workout this afternoon. We get to spend the time getting acquainted with our dogs.
I left the room and gave my first command to Quincy.
“Quincy, heel.”
And we headed back to our room.
I sat on the floor with Quincy, petting her and talking to her in silly girly doggy talk. She would roll around and wag her tail a lot. Sometimes she would get up and pull on her leash like she wanted to go to the door and see what else was going on. She’s so small. But she’s happy and friendly. I think we’re going to do good together.
Between 4 and 4:30, Mr. Ainsworth brought around the food. The dogs’ food that is. They told us the instructors would go to the kennels to get the food and when they came back they would come in the dorm and yell “Chow!” when we heard that we were supposed to go to our doors and wait. The instructors would give us a bowl with our dogs’ meal and we would feed our dogs on their tie-down. I could hardly stand still waiting for him to bring me Quincy’s bowl. They started at the other end of the dorm. Quincy was bouncing around on her tie-down, and I was bouncing around in the doorway. She sure knows what chow means. Finally it was my turn and I rushed over to put the bowl down so my girl could eat.
After she ate, she got water and then Michele and I took turns letting our dogs out on the run. Michele got a yellow lab named Felix.
We went down to the dining room for human dinner early, so we could get in to our tables and seated and learn how to get our dogs settled. Quincy was very good throughout the meal. She didn’t get up and down like some other dogs did.
I called home after dinner. I talked to Suzy and Grandma I and Jerry. Poor Diana’s mouth was all swollen from the removal of three wisdom teeth. Dad was at the field watching Stevie play. Joey and Rosie went with them. They were all excited about Quincy. Then I called Barb to tell her every bit about today. She’s doing great and was super excited for me. I also got a tape from her today.
Later, Mr. Ainsworth came to size our harnesses. We had a lecture after that about the water and relieving schedule for the dogs. I think I have that down.

Wake up and offer the dog water then let the dog out on the run for ten minutes.
After morning workout, water then relieve.
After afternoon workout, water then food then water then relieve.
At 7 PM offer the dog water.
At 9 PM final relieving on the run.

Then we had to practice heeling our dogs. We walked up and down the dorm hallway, back and forth back and forth. It’s the length of three football fields. I thought we should have had marching music playing and it was super funny with us all walking up and down and talking to our dogs.
When we finished that, Quincy and I went down to the music room for a while and talked to Dan, and his yellow lab, Frisco. Frisco and Felix are brothers.
Now I’m back in my room. I’m going to finish this journal, get my tapes ready to mail and let Quincy out on the run for her final relieving and then go to bed. I’m tired now, and there’s a big day ahead tomorrow for Quincy-Girl and me.
I’m so happy!!!!!!

1975, First Guide Dog Training, First Steps Growing Up

19 Friday Aug 2016

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Tomorrow, august 20, is the 41st anniversary of when I got my first dog from Guide Dogs for the Blind. Wow, so much has changed! Not the least of which is me. I was seventeen, just out of high school, young, innocent, yet wiser than my years due to life’s experiences up till then. Getting my first dog was the fulfillment of a ten-year dream. It was also my first tentative steps from girl into woman.

GDB has changed so much since those days. Those who’ve been to class since the eighties and beyond, would hardly recognize the GDB I first knew. And those who have gotten their dogs in the last decade or so, might be inclined to think it was a different school altogether, or maybe a different planet!

I kept a journal in braille that first class. I lived close enough that my dad drove me up there, so I brought a Perkins brailer and a binder full of paper. I wrote that journal every night. I still have the original journal and the original binder, though it’s practically falling apart! Going to GDB was about so much more than just getting a dog, and I show that in my journal.

Anyway, for fun, I thought I’d share the first few days. This post has Sunday through Tuesday. Saving dog day for tomorrow. I’m leaving it as written. Grammar not always so great, lovely wonderful 1975 slang, far out, and comments about everything. So often this type of journal is just about getting the dog. I write that sort of journal now. But this first time, it was my first trip away from home. I was dreadfully shy, to the point that I hardly talked to anyone all through high school. At GDB I took my first tentative chances at reaching out, at overcoming the shyness, at making friends outside my comfort zone. I fell in what I thought was love. (and no, not someone on my radar at all in the first three days.) I’m not that naïve idealistic starry-eyed girl anymore, but somewhere inside me, she exists on some level. I recognize me, as I read about her. So, I’m leaving in thoughts on my instructors and classmates. I’ve edited their names, the classmates that is, but I thought the things I wrote, sometimes changing my opinion from one day to the next. One thing is for sure, when I left GDB, I brought home a new dog, but I also brought home a new sherry.

And just for the sake of all the differences from then to now, enjoy!

First guide dog training, August 1975.

August 17, 1975

Dad woke me up about nine this morning. I slept good, though I’d expected my nervousness to keep me awake. I guess I mean excitement, not nervousness.
I was running around like crazy, trying to remember all the last minute stuff. Stuff like toothbrush and deodorant. Little things. I also wanted to move my cassettes from the outside pocket of my tote-bag to the inside.
Well, everything did get done, and when Grandma and Grandpa I came we took off. The drive went quicker than I had thought it would. Before I knew it, we were in Oakland and then we were here. It went quick because Suzy and I sang old camp songs till we reached the San Rafael Bridge.
Dad didn’t have any trouble at all finding the place. He and Diana went in first and then Mr. Jenkins came out. He took me into the loading lounge and the rest of the gang followed. My room wasn’t ready so we went out to look at the kennels. The first things we saw were some golden retriever puppies that Suzy and Diana went hog-wild over. All through the kennels those two were oooing and aaahing like a couple of idiots. It was fun though. They said they thought a golden or a yellow lab would fit my personality. We’ll see how right they are.
We came back to the dorm and the kids had an orange while Dad went to look at the pool. Orange soda that is. Then Mr. Jenkins said it was lunchtime, and my family said goodbye and I went to the dining room.
Lunch was good—fried chicken and green salad. Two of my classmates ate with me—Mr. Matthews from Canada, and Mr. Wakefield, both older men. Mr. Jenkins ate with us too. Mr. Jenkins loves cherry pie.
We went back to the loading lounge and all sat around and talked. Mr. Jenkins likes to tease—me, at least. He was saying I had five suitcases and had to order a rental truck. Then he said they had started training Chihuahuas this class and that I was getting one, Peanuts. I told him that Kitty would eat it.
Finally, my room was ready and I came down here and unpacked. The rooms are neat but I’ll explain it later. I worked on a tape to barb and Bunny and worked on this part of the journal. I’ll finish later.
My roommate just arrived. She’s super, so far. Her name is Michele and she’s from Texas. She has a gorgeous accent. She’s a diabetic. I don’t know her age, but I think she’s pretty young. I like her. We had a nice talk before dinner.
Barbara called me. She said she’d talked to Diana and she just had to call. It was good to hear from her. I heard the phone ring, and then Mr. Ainsworth knocked on my door and said it was for me. “For me?” I asked, shocked. “Yeah,” he said.
For dinner we had tomato soup and ham sandwiches. I hate ham, but I had two bowls of soup and some butter pecan ice cream, and iced tea. Mr. Jenkins sat at our table again. I told him that no one had brought peanuts in.
The people at my table were Dan B from Utah, Anne L from southern California and Jeff something, (I can’t spell his last name, but it’s something weird.), also from southern California. Mr. Jenkins kept teasing everyone, saying he was charging for the meal. Mr. Ainsworth is great too.
After dinner I didn’t do too much for a while. I tried the coke machine three times but it didn’t work. I thought maybe I had the wrong slot for the money. I decided to ask Mr. Jenkins or Mr. Ainsworth later.
I heard Mr. Jenkins passing by my room, so I asked him to show me where the library was. The library is far out! It has four shelves of books on each side of the door. I looked through them all. There are a lot of good ones. I chose Steve and the Guide dogs to start with. It’s in four volumes.
I came back here to my room and started to read. When Michele came in I quit reading and started talking. Then Mr. Ainsworth came in and told us it was time for lecture.
The lecture was an introduction to the school, the rules and the schedule. I found out that Mr. Underwood will be our supervisor. That’s cool. I liked him when he did my interview last year.
After lecture, I asked Mr. Jenkins about the coke machine. He said they’d fixed it and had collected the three dollars I owed him. What a nut! I got an orange soda and came back here. I finished taping to barb and listened to the Beachboys. I think I’ll take a shower and then tape to the family. That’s all for tonight.

August 18, 1975

This morning I woke up about two hours before time to get up. For breakfast, I had cream of wheat, sausage and toast. With coffee and orange juice for my pills. It was all good.
We had our morning lecture at 8—describing obedience. Then we got our leashes and fetch blocks. Mr. Ainsworth showed us how to do short-leash and long-leash. I was glad I already knew that stuff from barb and Bunny.
Then we got to try our hand at doing obedience with Juno. Mr. Ainsworth was my Juno. I think I did pretty good although I was nervous.
We also met Mr. Underwood and Miss Sullivan today. In a few minutes we’re going outside for walking exercise.
I just got back from walking exercise. We were divided into three groups of four each. One instructor took each group. Mr. Underwood took ours. I was with art, Anne and Jeff.
We walked to the road and turned around to come back, about twenty feet. Then we each had to walk in a straight line from Mr. Ainsworth to Mr. Jenkins and back again. Mr. Jenkins said I couldn’t have gone any straighter.
After that, we came back to the loading lounge for more practice with the leashes and fetch blocks.
We practiced obedience twice after the walking exercise. The first time I worked with Juno Jenkins. The only mistake I made was to say “Juno” before the command “stay”. The second time was with Mr. Underwood and I did it perfectly. So that makes three times so far, once with each instructor. Between the two obediences, we got our harnesses, or, the ones we’ll be practicing with till Wednesday.
Oh God, I just can’t wait till Wednesday!
For the afternoon workout, we all took our harnesses and leashes and went into downtown San Rafael. We waited for our turns in the downtown lounge. It’s different than the loading lounge. A narrow room with padded chairs along each wall and a bathroom. Plus fruit and things for the diabetics and a water fountain.
I went out with Mr. Jenkins. He first showed me how to hold the harness and leash together. We’d already learned the commands and hand signals back here at the school. Jenkins was a pretty good Juno. A couple of times he pulled a smart one and stopped for nothing. Usually though, he was a good dog. But I can’t wait to have a real dog in that harness. I don’t remember the route but I liked it. Mr. Jenkins went at a good pace, not too fast, but fast to me. If my dog goes like that I won’t have too much trouble.
Oh! I can’t wait!
It’s now before dinner. We just had another obedience practice. Mr. Jenkins was a super naughty Juno. I worked with Juno Underwood and he was naughty once. When I gave the fetch command, he fetched ok, but when he was going around me to sit at my left side, he just kept going. I had to give the come command again, taking in the slack of the leash quickly. He was a good boy after that.
For lunch we had something called Joe’s special, hamburger spinach and mushrooms, with fries and iced tea. For dinner we had roast beef, mashed potatoes and peas, with peach pie or jello for dessert. I had the pie.
After dinner, I did more taping to catch people up on the day’s activities. Then I read more of the book. Michele came back and we talked for a while. Art came along to ask if I’d brought my dymo tape braille labeler. He wanted to see it. I promised to ask the parents to bring it Sunday.
Michele, Art and I talked about his three previous guides, a Chesapeake Bay retriever, a black lab and a golden.
Then Gary came in to see Michele. I’m not sure but I think those two like each other. Michele said yesterday, that she didn’t want a blind boyfriend, but I’m beginning to wonder about that. Both times he’s been in here today, it sounded like they were kissing. Who knows?
Mr. Jenkins came along and told us to go to the loading lounge for another lecture. The lecture was about the three breed of dogs trained here. After that, we had another obedience practice. Mr. Ainsworth was the only instructor playing Juno. I think Mr. Underwood had already gone home, and Mr. Jenkins just sat and watched. Mr. Ainsworth said that any time a student did something wrong—forgetting the hand motions, voice inflection or praise, or if we said the name with the stay command—Juno would not respond. It was a blast! Michele said later that I had good voice inflection, especially when praising my dog.
Afterward, some of us sat and rapped with Ainsworth about dogs. It was so interesting. I went back to the room with Michele and worked on more tapes, after getting an orange soda. Gary came in and he and Michele went off to the music room.
We were assigned our official tables in the dining room today at lunch. I sit with Marvin, Gary and Kevin. I hate to say it, but I’m not too keen on Gary. He’s like the jerks my brother hangs around with and he thinks he’s tough stuff. My favorites in the class so far are Art Dan and Michele.
Enough for tonight. I have to wash my hair and work on my family’s tape. More tomorrow.

August 19, 1975

Today didn’t start off to well. I bumped my head twice and flubbed up in obedience. My right ankle is swollen too.
We were doing leash correction in obedience this morning. I’ve got to build up strength in my right arm. I just don’t jerk hard enough. Juno Underwood was inexcusably naughty this morning. We’ll be going downtown again soon. Maybe I’ll do better with the Harness. I can’t even braille right!
I did do better with the Harness! I had Juno Underwood. We did all right turns. Well, of course we walked straight down streets and crossed at corners. The only mistake I made was when we were coming back to the lounge. The lounge was on my right. We would go all the way to the corner, then turn around and backtrack a few steps. Then I’d give the command, left inside. Well, I guess I wasn’t paying attention, because I didn’t realize Juno had stopped. I just kept truckin along and stepped right off the curb. We laughed. Juno asked me where I was going, and I said I don’t know. The rest was easy after that. It was funny though.
Back at the school, we had another obedience practice. I had been practicing leash corrections with Dan, when the instructors came in. I jerked so hard on the leash that it flew out of Dan’s hand and fell on the floor. Mr. Jenkins teased me by saying I threw it at him. So, he started with me. And he was a brat, of course.
In the afternoon, we had obedience again. As Mr. Ainsworth led me into the hall, he started quoting the pome that begins with “come into my parlor said the spider to the fly.” He told me I should try to find that poem and recite it to him. He played even more tricks than Jenkins had played. Once he wouldn’t sit, and I had trouble with him on fetch too. But it was a blast.
Then it was time to grab our harnesses and hop on the busses, off to the downtown lounge. I was one of the last one to go out. I went with Mr. Jenkins. We were learning leash corrections in harness. Juno liked to sniff and I had to correct him three times. We also met a cute German shepherd pet dog on the route. When we got back to the bus, Jenkins said I’d done real good and the walk had been nice.
Since yesterday, I’ve talked more to Gary, and now I understand him and like him. Not saying I agree or believe all the things he says, but I like him. He’s crazy! He likes to joke around about eating exotic things, like rattlesnake meat. Yuck.
On the walk today, Mr. Jenkins asked me about my dog preferences. I told him I’d let them decide, since I couldn’t get a German shepherd. He told me Peanuts would be happy to hear it, and I said No way!!!
Oh man, tomorrow we get our dogs! I can’t wait!
By the way, Mr. Bensler sat at our table for lunch today. We had (or I had) two grilled cheese sandwiches and a chocolate roll for dessert. Dinner was okay, pork chops, rice and zucchini. I didn’t eat much, but I did have raspberry sherbet for dessert.
I finished reading Steve and the Guide dogs after dinner. I liked that book a lot, all about a teenage boy raising guide dog puppies. I took it back to the library and then got Mystery of the Pharaoh’s treasure. I also got a copy of the June Guide dog News.
Our lecture tonight was about equipment for our dogs. Tomorrow! Oh God, tomorrow! I can’t wait!
I really like all my classmates. They are all such good people. Anne is the quietest. Hazel is funny. She gives Juno as bad a time as he gives her. Art reminds me of what little I remember of Grandpa Gomes. He kind and comforting but he has a great sense of humor too. I don’t know marshal, chuck or Marvin very well. And Gary is still as crazy as it’s possible to be. He’s going to kill his liver if he really drinks as much as he says he does when he’s at home, but that’s his business. Jeff and Kevin are pretty quiet, though Jeff is quite nervous during workouts. That’s natural.
Michele is great. She’s 25. She’s really different from me, and I feel young and innocent around her sometimes. But I love her. She’s a good friend already.
Dan is my very best person in class. We seem to just understand each other perfectly. I hope that after we graduate, he will let me write to him and his wife Doreen and maybe visit them someday.
After our lecture about equipment. The instructors told us to go do what we want. They will be calling us, one by one, into their room to talk to us about our training so far. While I was waiting, I went into the music room where Dan had some country music on the stereo. We talked and looked through all the records, until Michele called me to go to the instructors’ room.
The instructors were very nice in that meeting. Jenkins asked me if I’d be going right home after graduation. He said the dog they had in mind for me was a “happy little dog” and they referred to it as she. Mr. Ainsworth was a big tease and told me I was very hard to work with and was a spoiled brat. Jenkins said that I am a very understanding person, that I do everything they tell me to do, and that I have good retention of the material. That all made me feel so happy inside. And those clowns kept joking around about Peanuts!
I went back to the music room and talked to everyone there. I danced around and played the Maracas. Then I went back to my room. I’m starved. I must have danced off all my dinner. Think I’ll get a soda and work on tapes.
I feel so sorry for Dan. He’s so lonely for Doreen. He can’t call her very often because he has to charge it to his in-laws’ phone. I feel so lucky that my family is only an hour and a half away, and that I have spending money. I wish I could help Dan and Doreen.
I get my dog tomorrow! Oh damn! I can’t stand the wait! Maybe my stomach will calm down after I get the dog.

The Final two days of Class

22 Friday Jul 2016

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Last Two Days of ZoomText Fusion Training

Wednesday 21 July 2016

Kindness of strangers and a Dog Day evening

First of all, thank you all for your patience as I was delayed posting this. It will be a long update, to cover Wednesday and Thursday. Someone asked where this was all happening. I was taking a class in an adaptive technology software program called ZoomText fusion, a screen reader and magnifier combined, putting it simply. The class last three days and was held in Littleton Colorado.

I worried all Tuesday night about getting to class on Wednesday. Would it be another disastrous start to the day? And it could have been. I asked the front desk to call the taxi at ten to eight, and at 8:30, it still had not arrived. Crap, I thought, though I’m sure I thought worse than crap, I’m going to be late again! Suddenly, a guest in the hotel walked up to ask if I wanted any breakfast. I had been sitting there a while, waiting for the blasted cab, after all. I politely thanked him, told him no and that I was waiting for a cab. And out of nowhere, he offered to give me a ride! And what did I do? I did exactly what I would have warned any other single woman not to do. I got in a vehicle with a man I did not know and trusted him to take me where I needed to go. And he did! I don’t even know his name, think it was Walter, or something like that. I have good instincts, so I felt I could trust him, and the hotel people knew I’d left with him. He was a businessman, and he was very kind, and I got to class five minutes before start! Thank you sir for your act of generosity. And for being a good guy!

Class went well. We covered so much each day, and I only hope I retained a lot of it. I was getting to know the other members of the class and enjoying their company very much. We got lunch from this incredible place called Etai’s. I had a turkey avocado sandwich with a seasonable fruit salad, chips and carrot cake. The sandwich was so good, and the variety of offerings on the menu blew me away. Oh, Etai’s, please come to my neck of the woods, please. They deliver too, and it would be so nice to have something besides pizza to order for delivery on a Friday night, when I actually want dinner but will not cook.

Wednesday night, I’d arranged to get together with a few friends, guide dog puppy raisers and a former trainer. Dot picked us up from the class and we went directly to her house. She had three dogs there, her old career change guide dog puppy she’d raised, an eight-month old puppy she had, her own dog, and a retired guide she was dogsitting. Then we had Barb with the dog she’s raising, Melissa with the dog she’s raising, and Becky with her career change guide dog puppy, that she raised a few years ago. At one point, we had seven large dogs, Labradors and my golden, running and raising cane in the back yard. It’s a testament to the fine training all the dogs have received, that all seven got along. They had fun, and there were no fights or other problems. Seven well-trained dogs, five experienced dog handlers, great food, great friendship, a perfect evening. Dot made the best food, homemade chicken salad, with these amazing appetizers, and Sangria. It was lovely outside on the patio, just sharing time with friends and laughing at the antics of seven dogs. I never wanted the evening to end. Well, except for being tired.

Thursday, 22 July 2016

Last Day, saying Goodbyes, Coming Home!

If I’d been stressed about the morning situation on Wednesday, it was almost nothing to the stress I felt about it Wednesday night. I probably only slept about three hours. Okay, so yeah, I have insomnia anyway, and I don’t sleep well in a strange place. Add to that the fact that a hotel is never really quiet. Room doors opening and closing, people or luggage bumping walls, it all wakes me up. I knew I’d have to finish packing everything, and somehow get me, my dog and my luggage to the center for class, on time!

That morning, I call the front desk, even before heading over, at 7:30 and asked them to call the taxi. By the time I got Petunia relieved and got to the lobby, it was close to eight, and they had heard from the cab company that it would be another fifteen minutes for the cab. If they showed up, of course. Surprisingly, to me, anyway, they did. At first I thought the cab driver was going to try to refuse the ride. He kinda freaked out when he saw Petunia, but he didn’t object more than saying a few things about how nobody told him there’d be a dog. For those who don’t know, a person with a disability is legally allowed to be accompanied by a service dog in places or services of public accommodation. This definitely includes taxis. Anyway, he didn’t object, and he was reasonably friendly. We got to the center in plenty of time, in fact, I was the first one there. Go me.

Last day of class. I had such mixed feelings about it. I was eager to get home, brain and body tired, wanting desperately to sleep. Petunia doesn’t care much for traveling apparently, as she hadn’t eaten Wednesday night or Thursday morning. I needed to get her back home to her own environment. At the same time, I had enjoyed the class greatly, loved learning the new stuff, was becoming friends with classmates, and part of me hated to have it end and to go back to my quiet lifestyle. Hmmm, I guess there still is a social lady inside me.

At the end of the day, we got to evaluate the class, and I gave it all the top marks I could. I’m very happy I was asked to take the class. I learned a lot and feel like I have the beginnings of a grasp on the program. Obviously, I won’t have a deep grasp until I get to play with it in real life time, but it was a good start.

My classmates and I shared email addresses, and I already heard from a couple of them. I do hope we keep in touch. We’re all scattered around the state, so we probably won’t see each other, but keeping in touch by email will be nice.

We all got a fun goodie bag for completing the training, with shirts, demos, thumb drives of materials we covered in class and a nice certificate of completion. I must admit I had some trouble concentrating in the latter half of the training day though.

Sandie picked us up at the end of the day, and we were finally homeward bound! Petunia got in the back seat and crashed. We made it home in good time, dumped my luggage, relieved all parties, and then we were off to dinner, for the humans anyway. We went to chili’s and had a good dinner, and I had a margarita too. But I was just tired and wanted to get home. Once we did get back, Petunia finally ate her dinner, and Sandie did some yard work for me.

When Sandie left, I thought Petunia and I would both fall upon the bed and sleep, but we didn’t. I unpacked a little, watched a bit of the RNC out of curiosity, and just unwound. Finally, I went to bed, called Doug to catch up and slept till time to get up for work.

I still feel exhausted and brain and body tired to the bone. I want to curl up with a good book or a movie and let the sound lull me off to dreamland for a few hours! But it’s Friday, and that means, the weekend is upon us, once five PM arrives!

Overall, the experience was fabulous. I have to say a huge thank you to the Residence Inn and all there staff. And I don’t even have words to express to the training people how much I enjoyed the class. Thanks, ZoomText University, Mark and all involved! Knowledge increasing is a glorious thing!

Two little comments, I believe I left my charm bracelets in the hotel. I’m kinda crushed about this and need to call them to see if they have been found and if the hotel can send them to me.

And what am I reading, a book called Coyote, about a trip to colonize another planet, but oh, there’s so so much more to it than that. Political intrigue, family dynamics, character development, survival, and all kinds of good stuff. Check it out!

Forty Years ago

17 Monday Aug 2015

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FORTY YEARS AGO

On august 17, 1975, I took my first steps to true independence, my first steps to a new life. I walked into the San Rafael campus of Guide Dogs for the Blind, and I was never the same again.
I was young and innocent, just out of high school, two months from my eighteenth birthday. I’d never been away from home more than an overnight at a friend’s house, and there I was planning to be away for a whole month. I was shy. I was nervous, but oh was I ever excited. This was my dream, had been my dream for ten years. I was finally there, finally getting my first guide dog after waiting so very long.
When I was seven, I read a book about a guide dog. I didn’t understand mobility for blind people then, but I did understand that there were dogs just for blind people. I vowed right then and there that someday I would get one of those guide dogs, no matter how long it took. I loved dogs, and I wanted my own dog. Dad had hunting dogs, but they weren’t my dogs, and I so wanted my own. I wanted a dog that would sleep by my bed, cuddle with me, share my life, be my companion. When I got old enough to understand about mobility,then I wanted a dog for all those other reasons, but also for excellent and safe mobility.
Over the next ten years, I had to fight a lot of battles to achieve my dream, but then, should a dream be an easy conquest. Shouldn’t we have to work for it a bit? During high school, a person in authority, tried all he could to talk first me out of getting a dog, and when that didn’t work, tried talking my parents out of letting me get a dog. Just before high school graduation I broke my leg and had to put off training. I did everything the doctors said to get my strength back after the break. Nothing was going to keep me from getting my dog.
Finally I was there, settled in my room. Long before the era of computers and cell phones, I had my Perkins brailler, a binder full of blank paper, about a hundred cassettes with all my favorite music, taped off the radio of course. I had a ton of cute clothes and comfortable shoes. I was ready, so ready to meet my dog. I was nervous about the other students. I was one of sixteen students in that class, and my shyness threatened to choke me that first day. But it would be worth it all in three days when I would finally meet my dog!
I did get over the shyness, and I made friends. I fell in love with my dog, and I fell in love with a boy. Neither the boy nor the dog were part of my life forever, but the dog set me on a new path of freedom, first of seven, and special for being the first. I learned many things, not all related to interacting with and caring for a dog.
Was it all worth it? The ups and downs, the hard lessons and the good lessons? Today, as I look back forty years, and as I no longer feel that young innocent girl inside me, yeah, I know without a doubt, yes, it was worth every bit of it!