“How much can you see ( Read more... )

Some relationships end in a ball of fire; screaming, crying, storming out of the room vowing never to speak to each other again. Others end with a slowly extinguishing flame, ending with the final embers gradually dying in a slow hiss ( Read more... )

When a team of handler and guide dog bond even the most subtle of differences can cause stress. This could be anything from a slower pace, the dog’s reluctance to get into the harness, and a myriad of other issues making the handler question what might be happening ( Read more... )

Writing an introduction should be simple. The obvious things such as name, appearance, occupation, where one lives and all of those facts that immediately come to mind spring forward when that topic is presented ( Read more... )

I have been absent for some time around here. I'm hoping that throwing my hat into the therealljidol ring will get me back into the habit of writing and hopefully reconnect with old friends. I also hope to meet new ones! So here we go!

In 2009 I was fortunate to go to the Netherlands to visit a friend for her 50th birthday. This was the first time I ventured anywhere outside of the United States. Besides dealing with all of the documentation needed to travel: Passport, health records for my guide dog, and approval by the Department of Agriculture in order to travel with Yancy, my ( Read more... )

It was 7:30 on what I thought would be a normal work day. I am the first person at my place of work. I have a morning routine: disarm the alarms on both sides of the office, turn on the lights, check voicemail on both the main phone and my personal extension, get a cup of tea, turn on the copier, and check both snail and email ( Read more... )

Topaz was her name. Her reputation was known far and wide throughout the county where I lived ( Read more... )

The call came at 5 AM on Thursday morning. It wasn’t the first time the nursing home called me to tell me that either my mother or her husband were being taken to the emergency room because of one thing or another. Both have been prone to pneumonia. Various infections, a ruptured internal hemorrhoid, and extreme pain from neuropathy have been some ( Read more... )

Holidays, for me, have always been a source of anxiety. My earliest memories of Thanksgiving are of family gatherings where the end result was fighting, cousins storming out of the house, having to endure being with relatives that never really accepted me ( Read more... )