April 16, 2021
The instructions on my service dog’s tags read DO NOT Separate Dog from Handler. The same words repeat on the rear window of my van, emphasizing that wherever I go, he goes. We’re a team. Even in an emergency, we both board the ambulance. Yet, here I stand in the parking lot of the urgent care clinic watching a vet assistant lead him inside without me by his side. I feel half-dressed, only one pant leg on. I wish there were instructions sewn onto my COVID mask that read DO NOT Separate Handler from Service Dog. Even in a pandemic. When a pet falls ill, it’s heartbreaking. They don’t complain. If only they could explain how they feel, where it hurts. So, we do what we can: fluff their beds, sit by their side stroking their fur, break the rules and hand-feed them slices of roasted chicken. We try to […]
March 11, 2020
While at a local health fair recently, (held before virus warnings of not to convene in large groups with others), I sat at an exhibitor table with my yoga colleagues. Some of the attendees stopped to say, Hi, talk about yoga and comment on the giant dog beside me. Others took part in Tai chi lessons, worked on movement with various exhibitors and commented on the giant dog beside me. Said giant dog did very well refraining from approaching any of the attendees who spoke to him or reached out a hand. It’s the skill we’ve been working on the most lately. Having an uber-friendly dog is by far not the worst problem to have in these days of so many issues. However, when that dog is a balance service dog, it’s essential he moves only on my command because if he lurches forward for a friendly pet, I FDGB. […]
January 29, 2020
I’d blame the Parkinson’s, but it’s more likely that my usual bubbleheadedness has me forgetting things I should remember. Then again, it could be age. My memory mishaps seem to be on the increase. There are so many now that I can categorize them. There are brain freezes, like “Why did I just walk into the kitchen?” And then there is wishful thinking, as in “I can remember the three things I need from the grocery store without writing them down.” Let’s not forget the fill-in-the-blank moments when a simple word is nowhere to be found. Those are conversation stoppers. When our phones takes a little extra time to retrieve a file, we wait for it. If only we had a similar screen icon on our foreheads of that spinning circle with Processing…this may take several minutes. Why do we expect our aging brain’s full memory cards to function faster […]