Questions. Retinitis Pigmentosa. Guide Dogs.

Cricket and I are nearing our six-year anniversary as a team.  More to follow as we celebrate this special month :).  Cricket and I both enjoy celebrating special days and turning them into a month long of celebration and reminiscing.  Oh how I remember this adorable 19-month old pup coming to meet me with Instructor Toby!  She instantly won my heart.

Cricket and I walked home from church today and she walked directly to the garage door opener.  One of many of the joys of having a seasoned guide dog is there are many things she just knows :) one of which is we come home from church and enter through the garage.  As the door begins to go up, she waits until the door clears my head.  There may have been space for her to walk in but she is continually thinking about me and waits until it is opened all the way so I won't bang my head.

We walked out of church today and she recognized that she needed to walk slow carefully stopping at the base of each set of stairs.  They were icy and snowy.

Necklace and earrings from mom and dad (Coldwater Creek), turtleneck from Steve (Ann Taylor),  skirt from J Crew

Recently in a conversation with someone that I had just met - he indicated you don't look blind.  When this occurs, I try to spend a few minutes visiting about blindness.  I know many people that are blind ... there is not a look - we are all individuals. I explained that I had Retinitis Pigmentosa and our retina is like the film (little out of date analogy :) in the camera.  The outside of the eye, camera,  remains looking fairly healthy even while the film inside is destroyed.

He said,  well you are walking around with such confidence.  I shared with him the story of walking into the post office that I often frequented after getting my first guide.  The postmaster asked me if my vision had been corrected because I was now walking in with such confidence.  That is what a guide dog can do!  

As we were standing there, he also asked me why I wasn't hanging on to Cricket's harness.  I had the opportunity to explain that when she is sitting down and not working, I hold onto her leash.  If it had of been warmer and we both had some time, I would have loved to go for a short walk to show him further what a guide can do.    

I recently also had someone tell me that I had waved as they passed by -- did I see them.  If I hear a car pass by - I simply smile and wave.  I hold the hymn book with Steve even though I don't read the words of the music.  Its still fun to enjoy holding the book and singing together.  There are some things that you just do with or without sight but apparently that sometimes creates questions and presents opportunities to answer questions :) from my perspective.