A Dream Come True

One of Sarah's dreams, post disease diagnosis, was to welcome a guide dog into her life.  There are many advantages to having a guide dog as a visually impaired person, the biggest being that it helps to have two brains working together toward a common goal, which in turn creates confidence in oneself.  Plus, the implicit trust between a guide dog and her handler allows a level of freedom for the visually impaired person that a cane alone does not. 

The thing that I did not know about guide dogs prior to Sarah losing her own vision, is just how hard it is to qualify for one. Guide dog organizations don't just hand out guide dogs to anyone who wants one. The application process is very thorough. Not only do you need proof from your physician that you are visually impaired - a person also has to have multiple references, get through an interview, and also show that one can navigate in the world on her own. This last part of the process involves a year + of training with an orientation and mobility specialist.

 Our family had to hire our own private O & M specialist while Sarah was under the age of 18 (long story) to teach her the skills necessary to qualify for a guide dog. We interviewed and hired a wonderful woman named Jana. Jana is an amazing human being and teacher who helped Sarah learn how to navigate in this world by herself. Sarah explained to Jana that it was a dream of hers to qualify for a guide dog. Jana explained to Sarah that this would be a long process, especially since Sarah had no previous orientation and mobility training. It took about 16 months, but by the end Sarah learned how to navigate stores, neighborhoods, the bus system, the train system, uber/taxis, navigating all kinds of roads, including multiple lane road crossings (think 3 and 4 lanes going in all four directions). Jana showed Sarah how to navigate a college campus, how to pick up on different sounds and signals to help her get around by herself. It was an amazing process to watch unfold from my perspective.  To see Sarah's determination to get through some really hard stuff and to meet with Jana weekly and put in the work just shows how tough Sarah is. Imagine closing your eyes and with only a cane getting around your neighborhood, crossing a street with 3 lanes and using your ears to be able to tell when the lane closest to you has a red light, getting on a bus and knowing when to get off of the bus at your stop, walking around a store to shop or knowing where to go for help with shopping. Could you do it? I know I certainly could not. Now imagine watching your child do it. It is so inspiring and scary. But this is what Sarah needs to do to accomplish her goals - she needs to know how to navigate in this sighted world as a person who is blind. 

And so...after 16 months of O & M training, several months long application process, over a year of waiting for her match after her application was accepted, Sarah finally got her guide dog. She flew to White Plains, New York two weeks ago and went through a 12 day bootcamp learning how to navigate life with a guide dog (which is different than doing so with a cane). 

On Monday, June 10, 2024, Sarah met Heron - her yellow lab match. To say that it was an emotional experience would be an understatement. This was the culmination of a lot of hard work and determination. It was a dream come true for Sarah - the first of many. 

I am so proud of Sarah for putting in the work the accomplish this goal. She did this all on her own. No one else could help her with this dream. And she did it.

Sarah and Heron came home on Saturday, June 22, 2024. Miles immediately took to Heron. He is head-over-heels in love with her and will not leave her side. Max isn't so sure of her. He doesn't like a new being intruding on his territory, so it will take a bit of time before he warms up to her.

What a ride this journey has been. 

Meet Heron

At her graduation ceremony at the end of the two-week bootcamp.

Playing tug-of-war. 

Miles happy as a hippo with his new best friend. 

 

How They Grow

     We arrived home last night after a brief trip back to Ohio. We drove up north to attend the wedding of a cousin on Bob's side of the family. The groom is a young man of just 22 and his bride is 20. He chose to get married at 4 pm on a Tuesday which isn't the most guest friendly time or day considering that most people would have to take time off of work to attend, but it was what he and his bride wanted, and so those of us that attended made the appropriate arrangements to be there. 

    The young couple had a small wedding budget, so I knew that this was not going to be a traditional American wedding where gobs of money is spent on a party that lasts just a few hours, but I wasn't sure if it was going to a very guest friendly wedding having only the inconvenience of the day and time of the wedding to try and foretell what the rest of the event was going be like. 

I am happy to report that their wedding was a beautiful, perfect event made of all of the things that a wedding should be - family and fun, love and laughter. The young couple was glowing - especially the groom - and it was evident that they will make a good match for life if they should choose to grow together and commit to life as a married couple. 

The vibe of the wedding was great. There were times during the afternoon where most of the guests were up on the dance floor enjoying themselves immensely - which says something considering that it was a dry wedding, and most people did not have the liquid courage we usually rely on at weddings to get ourselves out on the dance floor. 

The bride looked so beautiful. Her wedding gown made her look like a princess. The decor was rustic which fit perfectly with the venue which was a lodge surrounded by woods. White lights hung in the dark wooden rafters both at the ceremony space and the reception area. Burlap and mason jars with origami birds made up the table decor completed with greenery snaking its way among the mason jars. The groom's sister made the cupcakes and the single tiered wedding cake that the bride and groom cut. 

There was no garter toss or bouquet toss - which I don't think anyone missed or even noticed the absence of. There was a father-of-the-bride dance and a mother-of-the-groom dance along with a maid-of-honor speech (given by the bride's sister) and a best man speech (given by the groom's brother) all of which was sweet to watch and listen to. 

The wedding was exactly what a wedding should be. It was a celebration of the beginning of a new life for the young couple without all of the unnecessary frills and expenses that make up most American weddings today. Nothing was over the top, but it was still a comfortable guest experience - which I think is equally important. 

The crazy thing, for me, about this wedding is that this young man is the oldest of four children all about 2 years apart - the same as my children. My kids and their cousins spent a good amount of time together when we lived in Ohio - especially when they were all toddlers and preschoolers. The groom was born one month after Josh, Sarah and the groom's oldest younger brother are nine months apart, Elizabeth and the groom's sister are two months apart, and the groom's youngest brother came two and a half years after the girls were born. Their family and ours spent many an afternoon playing together, hiking, accessing nature parks all the while expanding our families together until they were complete.

To see the groom side-by-side with his three siblings - all grown up - was pretty emotional for me. He is now going to go on and create his own nucleus - his own family - and will leave behind the one in which he was raised by. This hit me so hard because I know that this journey will also happen in my own nuclear family sooner rather than later. To look up at those four kiddos all grown up was such a visual reminder that time does indeed march on. So often time seems invisible until we come face to face with something like a wedding, and we can see very clearly, that while time seemed hidden, it was very much there growing these babies into children, and now young adults ready to begin their own lives in their own ways. And while I may think that time only affected these four cousins, I know that my children have also grown, and one day it will be my four children standing side-by-side at a wedding or commitment ceremony for one of their own. 

I cannot believe how they have grown. It seems like just yesterday they were babies, and in the blink of an eye they have grown into these eight unique, amazing humans.  It is such a bittersweet thing for this mama heart. I am both so happy for these eight children and yet, so very, very sad that this part of our lives is coming to a close. These eight little babies are getting ready to fly the nest and take some of their mamas' hearts with them.