A new phase of our journey

I wanted to share a part of the beautiful gift of a guide dog that isn't so easy. Retirement. After serving as my guide dog for almost seven years, Cricket has communicated recently she is ready to begin retirement planning. I recognized it clearly about a week ago, after a super busy day at the office, she just wasn't into going to an evening event. I felt the pain - I thought ... really? No - can you work for another couple years, I asked her? She seemed to be saying ...I am so loyal and devoted to you that I can keep on trying but ... Her love, service, and loyalty are inspiring. However, I recognize that it is my time to give her the gift of a beautiful retirement. Cricket has had an incredible career and has touched many, many lives.

I am so grateful for the incredible support of Guide Dogs for the Blind in helping us navigate this process. As you can imagine, this transition comes with many emotions - mostly deep gratitude for Cricket and everyone involved.

I am so grateful that Cricket and I have the gift to do some planning in this transition. She is very healthy and happy. She hopefully has many great years left to enjoy life and share her love. She has given 100+% as my guide dog.  She also has been a beautiful, compassionate companion loved by so many. She has had an incredible busy, active life as a guide dog.

We have the blessing of this being a transition over the next couple months. She will continue to work part-time - travel with me on a couple more trips, go to my office and other meetings, and also transition into more time off harness.  A retirement party both at our office ... home and on our blog :) will be planned. Cricket and I both love celebrations! I see her having an incredible second career as a therapy dog or perhaps another line of work :) or perhaps she will just enjoy being pampered at home. We shall see ... we are taking it a day at a time and listening to what her sweet heart says.  She will let me know. My job is to listen. I've done it for seven years as she's guided me safely throughout the country in so many beautiful, amazing experiences.

In the meantime, the picture below is a sweet memory of Cricket and Steve helping me get all the items from Costco for our Annual Grief and the Holidays Event two years ago.

Thank you for your support and following the journeys of Cruisin with Cricket. To be continued :). Hope you have a lovely weekend! We have dinner plans with friends both nights which Cricket will join.

Happy day, Cricket

My dear Cricket,

It has been six years since we were placed together at Guide Dogs for the Blind and began our training in Boring, Oregon.  Time flies.  We are a perfect match.  I wish I could just keep you as an energetic, healthy 7 1/2 year old and me as an energetic 48 year old :)!  We will both age together as we do everything together.

Thank you for your example of love.  How often I hear in a day ... wow, what  a sweet dog.  You radiate such love and kindness.  Your example of being present in the moment and greeting those you meet with a wag of the tail and your love (when your harness is off) is inspiring.

You also are an incredible guide dog.  As we say, you just kind of pull it off.   I love how you take it all in stride ... noisy traffic, no problem; lots of children around, no problem; going for a long walk, no problem; a busy day at the office that means you hang out on your bed, no problem.

Today as each day I am celebrating our bond we share.  Oh, the many miles and adventures we have had together! I look forward to many, many more!

So much more I could say but we need to 'go' so I will say, Cricker girl, forward.

Much love,  Becky

Sorry for fuzzy picture - on our way  with Steve to share at a fireside.  

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.  

Home Sweet Home

What a day - freezing rain that made everything a sheet of ice. No outside guide work for Cricket today.  We didn't leave our office all day.  Feels good to be home. Home sweet home.

I am not such a fan of grocery shopping especially when it is crowded, but tonight was fun.  We ran into several friends including Cricket's vet. Cricket was so excited to see him as she tried to stay calm in harness with her tail just a wagging!

We also had a man come up to us and shared that he had been a puppy raiser. We thanked him! He was so kind he said -- the real gift is seeing the dogs matched and helping someone else lead such an active life. Then he said - you guys look like a good together :), ah sweet.

I've been in a cleaning out mode for the last month.  I am loving the progress being made in my office/dog room/laundry room (one of my favorite rooms in our house!  Now onto my closet. Does anyone else do this? Sometimes I transfer my winter clothes back to the basement without even wearing some of them.  So, I'm on a quest to wear them  -- rediscover some clothes I forgot about and discover some clothes that I can say good bye.

I had forgotten about this peach (I think) sweater and these pants (both Ann Taylor).  I love this black blouse and wear it all the time.  All keepers.  Sweet dog - definitely a keeper!  

We didn't run this morning.  Contemplating hopping on the ellyptical this evening.  Its just not as fun as running outside.  I can do it, right!

Later - I did it while Steve was next on the bike.  Hopping on that tandem sounds like so much fun!

Sunshine & Love

Smile Cricket! Aren't these such cute little happy road blocks :) she is in between!

We were so happy to find some sunshine for a few days!  We ran the trails, walked and explored the trails with Cricket, cheered on a friend that was in a run, and enjoyed time with my parents.  No picture with them :< in my cute necklace and boots in black and brown they gave me with birthday money.  Fun!  Back home to 10 degree weather but mid-week a balmy 39 degrees is expected - that will feel warm :). 

We can't forget the reason for this three-day holiday:  Martin Luther King Day.  One among many quotes that I love from him:    

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

Guiding in Great Fashion

I recently was visiting with some friends and the conversation turned to asking about my recent awesome experience at Ann Taylor. I may blog about my life, but really I'm not a big fan of talking about myself so I was trying to quickly get through the parts about me. I mentioned - they asked some great questions about how I design my outfits and also how Cricket guides. They said well ... we want to know. They said, you know we just don't think about your blindness. I said - this is great! It is just one aspect of who I am. I just gain information that others may get visually in different ways.

Super cute sweater from my dear friend, Debi.  You may not be able to tell - has a fun ruffle along the bottom.  Love this scarf from another friend, Susi.  Thank you and it just makes it special to wear something from someone special, too!  

I'm going to answer these questions.  First of all, how did Cricket get me to Ann Taylor last Friday (and so many other places!)?Steve helped me get oriented of where we were and then I told 'Cricket forward', 'find the door', find the elevator, outside, left, right, then I recognized that just after a ramp I would turn left, then inside to the store.  I was greeted at that point and so was directed on where to go from there.  If I was entering without someone at the door I would then tell her 'find the counter' and she would go to where we could get assistance!  I ask her to do this with verbal, feet and hand gestures.  She is indeed amazing!  Just yesterday I was at City Creek, again! and she did another amazing 'all in a day's work to her' thing!  I had asked her to find the door - I opened it and for some reason it automatically began to shut ... she pulled us back quickly.  There were two ladies walking by that said - now that was amazing!  I've probably said amazing many times in this post but it really is a word I think to describe her and her guide work!

On our way

We are about ready to leave to go to City Creek - Ann Taylor. Can you believe all our snow! Steve often wears something special of his dad's when he goes to an important event where he wants that little extra 'support'. I love this skirt that Steve gave me for Christmas with Natalie's help. They will be there in spirit cheering me on. I also love to put on my pantera/cricket charm bracelet. We have been through much as 'teams'. I also have on my See Beautiful necklace that I love! This turquoise sweater is old but it also has good memories. It reminds me of sitting down with the department head in my master's program and telling him my dream of having a private practice. He cheered me on :). In the basket are educational materials from Guide Dogs for the Blind. I look forward to sharing and perhaps even having one of them put on a pair of goggles and learn how you can navigate with a cane ... and a guide dog. Fun :)!

Have a great weekend!

Goodness

Today was an uplifting Sunday. In an earlier meeting - a simple but so enthusiastically shared reminder: We have such opportunities to do good each day.

Right now I have a calling in my church that is stretching my comfort zone - however, I am also loving it! Today I needed to go to a new ward where I would be meeting the others in the presidency prior for the meetings. Steve dropped me off, I breathed and said, I can do hard things. Ha, one of my mantras. He said, you definitely can do hard things! How fortunate that as I was walking in hoping to find the other ladies - one walked right up to me -- that was easy! The first meeting was the full congregation. Ah, I found myself relaxing for this meeting. We just were going to listen! I had enjoyed an inspiring message with this song being sung. Then, the stake president got up and began his talk in which he began to comment about someone in a stake calling that had walked in - my heart started pounding and I knew that I was going to be asked to walk to the front and speak! Topic: Share how Cricket is faithful to me each day. I don't remember what I said but suddenly I recognized I could do even harder things than what I had anticipated for the day! Also, I had the opportunity to educate 300? people a little bit on a guide dog. As we finished the remainder of the other meetings with time spent with some sweet little 18 month - 3 year-olds, I felt the joy of stretching. Thanks, Cricket for your patience. At one point, one of the little girls was using Cricket's nose as the track for her little car. Cricket, you have such amazing goodness.

Hot, Happy Puppy

We enjoyed a day at Zions National Park this weekend.  They have some nice paved trails that work well for us to join in.   Cricket was welcomed warmly by the bus drivers infact, one of the drivers used to live near the Guide Dog Campus and remembers a dog name Angel.  As Cricket was lying there by my feet and everyone was getting on and off with her not moving -- she commented on her level of trust - to lie so still :). 

Walking gave the feet and legs a few days to rest from running.  This is our big week in running: 40 (10, 5, 5, 20)  with 4 weeks until the marathon!

We enjoyed this sign:  Man's heart away from nature becomes hard.  Native American Proverb.

We found a couple pictures to hang in our house here .  Fun that David, the photographer, was there and so inviting.  He offered Cricket some water (she was fine had just had some outside).  He said - she is welcome to wander around and if she breaks something no problem.  I said you are so kind but she will stay right by me in your beautiful gallery!     

Processing with Cricket

A friend found this little story funny so I'll share :)!   My dentist is a short four block walk from my office.  Today was the final saga of the tooth that needed a root canal and crown.  Yeah.  It was really hot when we walked out.  Cricket is not a fan of  long walks on dog days of summer.   I knew Cricket would be willing to walk where I asked her to go but also thought her knowing what lies at the final destination on this hot walk would be helpful to her  - so before I told her forward I kneeled down, stroked her ears and said,  Cricket its just a short walk back to the office and then when we get back we will get you your dinner.   She knew just where she needed to go and happily guided me in the heat back to my office to enjoy her dinner.  I process much with Cricket in a day.  They say processing and sharing is very helpful and lowers our stress level.  I'm not the only one that processes with Cricket.  I am told so often ... this dog has such a sweet spirit about her - so true.

Following her journey

A good friend is in training for her second guide. I read her posts and can so relate to her journey. I look forward to seeing her and meeting her new guide in September. Follow her here .

My Cricket

Yesterday I went into an appointment in a confusing house turned offices.  Leaving the appointment I was a little lost on how I had gotten in there!  I said Cricket outside. in hopes that she would know the way! She did not let me down.  She weaved through the offices, found the stairs downstairs and we were outside. I stopped and thought ... 15 years of working with two incredible guides does not make this moment any less. When we were outside, I gave her a hug and a kibble/treat.  She earned that little kibble.  We walked further to catch the bus and came upon the sidewalk sale in our cute little town and lost track of time a bit.  We walked to the other side to the post office, and as we crossed we could hear the bus.   I was hopping he knew we were trying to catch the bus.  I waved and thankfully, he waited for us to cross.  So nice.  

Like us all, right, Cricket has many roles to play.  Guide Dog is top, but she also takes her role as therapy dog very serious in the office.   Her harness is off and she is on her bed and able to get up and come to a client if they would like and she gets the okay from me. Today she was on her bed when a new client came ... at the conclusion of the session she said I just don't think I would have been able to open up as much if your dog hadn't of been here.   Thank you Cricket for all you do in a day.  

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!  We have raspberries ... jam to make, perhaps this weekend!  They are just so yummy to eat.  Five miles in the morning to run.  That sounds so doable, now.

Cricket

Last evening Steve and I had the chance to go out with some dear friends.  He is now at the point of considering a guide dog very seriously.  I am so excited for him.  I told him he will be amazed at the joy of walking again.  Steve and I thoroughly enjoyed sharing all the amazingness of Cricket.  Cricket sat there looking at our friends very intently as if she knew what we were talking about.  She seemed to be on her best behavior :). 

Cricket and I enjoyed a nice lunch with friends (thank you) today and a walk up to the dentist.  I know fun, right.  Then, she walked back briskly to the office for dinner time and more sessions.  She is such a joy, and I am very grateful for the blessing of her in my life.  

Celebrating Cricket

Today Cricket turns seven. Wow.  Time flies.  Cricket, my second guide dog, has been there by my side for 5 1/2 years. Incredible gratitude for this girl.  She will do countless things for me today.  Here are seven that I  know:  1) she will guide me to my office door and then 2) up the stairs to the upstairs office, later 3) she will guide me to the outside curb steering around any objects that may be in our way --this includes over hang - there currently is a tree that she has to stop for with low hanging branches 4) she will stop at the street crossing and help me safely cross the street 5) she will help me 'find the door' to go to LDSFS Agency to visit, after visiting and sharing some cookies I will tell her 6) Cricket 'outside' and she will lead us out 7)back to another street crossing and then  back to the office.  I could go on and on ... just all in a days work for Cricket.  

In typical Cricket style, I tried to give her a kiss and she quickly wanted to give me one back including her paw.

To describe Cricket is describing Love.  I bump her and while I am saying, Oh so sorry Cricker girl she is trying to give me a kiss.    

Happy Birthday, Cricket

Starting the day with a 9-mile run in prepping for our marathon.  Hoping to end work in time for a bike ride with Steve.  The rest of the day will be spent with my Cricket ... oh how I love and appreciate you.  There will also be time for belly rubs and scratches behind the ear for you, too, Cricker girl.

Joy

Congratulations, Natalie!

We spent the weekend in San Diego celebrating Natalie's graduation -- MBA from USD - Incredible.  What a special, joyful day! Congratulations, Natalie. Special to have all the family together for this great day.

Her grandparents - such incredible support. 

Of course, Cricket was there cheering her on and felt special that the grad stopped down to get a picture with her :)!  No smile from Cricket.  She was in a serious, focused mood all the trip - which was great she needed to be.

"Crazy Cool"

I left work Friday evening and told Steve - I love my work. Some days it just hits on what an amazing privilege this is ... how beautiful it is to see family members reunited.

Earlier that day I returned to Apple for some help on getting texting back on my ipad. So helpful to be able to use the keyboard. One associate was puzzled on why I was receiving texts but unable to send. He called over another associate who was also puzzled and then you could feel the lightbulb moment when he said ... I had a lady from Wyoming with this same problem! He then knew just what to do! Thank you lady in Wyoming. I am now receiving and sending texts through my ipad once again.

After our little Apple session while waiting for Steve to pick us up, we sat down and enjoyed a sugar cookie with raspberry frosting. Amazingly yummy. I paused for a moment with my little guide by my feet, sun shining and just felt gratitude.

That evening as we walked out of Cafe Rio (that place is a little stressful with the noise and all its people but love their soup), through this group of teen boys one of them said - That is a crazy cool dog! I smiled.  Indeed.

Seeing Beautiful

We enjoyed a beautiful hike this past weekend as a family. This is one of the lookouts to enjoy our beautiful city. I enjoyed experiencing my family enjoying the view. Kendall is nearby reflecting ... out of camera range. There are many ways to experience the beautiful view. Listen to the sounds. Experiencing the moment with my family. Smelling the joys of the outdoors. Feeling the slight breeze blowing. It was a little chilly as we climbed.

Cricket is posing in this next picture to share her beautiful tag that says:  See Beautiful.  We do.  It was such a special treat to get to spend a wonderful lunch with this beautiful woman and friend in Atlanta last month.  I am touched by her passion and sharing such a beautiful message.  What a special privilege to get to write a post for her blog here: http://seeabeautifulworld.blogspot.com/2012/05/on-seeing-beautiful.html

Getting a little time this morning to work in the garden is beautiful.  The picture below is with Cricket in harness in front of our friendship garden.  It needs a little love right now.  It is full of perennials and rocks shared from friends in our old neighborhood and even from our old house.  It helped to feel like we brought a little of the love from our last neighborhood here!  

Sometimes I'm asked how I garden blindly.  I have found various tips helpful throughout the years.  I try to carry all my gardening tools in a bucket to keep track of them.  I also have one of Mimi's pouches that I love  that I carry my phone and a few dog treats and I used to carry little note pad with a big marker so I can write down if I think of something -- however, these days I use my iphone to simply record myself a note.  Have I mentioned how much I love my iphone and ipad :).    

Isn't my helper in the garden beautiful? 

Have a beautiful day!

Coral Smudges & Surrendering

This has been a long day.  It started out with our run.  Three miles today.  Tapering back for the 1/2 on Saturday.  It feels good and my yearning to do a marathon is in full force!  It was a pretty typical day with thankfully not much creativity needed on how to get where I needed/wanted to go.  Steve dropped Cricket and I off for our hair appointment.  We have a system that generally works every five weeks when this fast growing hair needs a cut.   Cricket settled in for an hour of Marina and I chatting about life.  Steve picked us up and dropped us off next for a pedicure and manicure.  I had a break in my schedule before clients began that allowed for just enough time.   Natalie had told me coral was the color of the season so I asked someone else to help me find a coral polish.  Apparently, it was super bright orange and luckily the lady asked me -- is that really the color you want.  I said, I want coral.    They started bringing me some other options, and I said, sorry I can't see the colors but my daughter is suggesting coral.  My colleagues are often saying -- can Natalie help us :).   At this point, one of the ladies who was also getting a pedicure tried to explain to them what color - coral was -- she said its close to the color of her sweater - referring to me.  Great information for me to know -- didn't realize this!  They kept bringing out different colors and she would say no not quite until they finally found one that she agreed was coral!  I was pretty touched by her kindness and the 'village' of ladies that were working to find coral polish.   After I finished, we walked up to the store nearby.  I said to Cricket - Find the basket, (awesome) then left/left, right/right, Find the counter -- ta da to a Raspberry Fritter at the Bakery.  Oh my.  Yummy.  As I was juggling my sweet Cricket and way too big purse with too much in it, I smudged my Coral Nails!  I found myself thinking ... oh I could navigate back and they would fix it but then so not worth it.  The smudge coral nails are reminding me to surrender to what is and its just not a big deal :).  Cricket walked back to my office with such confidence and purpose.   I had some super difficult cases where I had to do what is one of the hardest things for us to do - call and report a tough situation.  Thus,  I was a little late getting a class started.  I finished teaching the mindful class where we were reminded to Breathe and Surrender.  I may have benefitted more than the others in the class this evening.

I spent the day in Ann Taylor clothing (jewelry, clothes, even shoes!) - funny how often that happens.  Steve fixed these shoes for me so I'm hopeful they have many more miles to go this summer.  They are a fun little dash of animal print with the belt and necklace :) and now I'm happy to know that the sweater I am wearing is coral to match my smudged nails!

Oh how I love this happy, silly dog. 

Wednesday is International Guide Dog Day.  What a fabulous day to celebrate!  I have been blessed with a guide dog by my side for almost fifteen years now (Pantera 9 years and now Cricket 5 plus years).  Incredible blessing.  We have a full day at the office but in the middle is a break to go for a nice long walk enjoying the joys of a guide dog in my life.     

All Smiles for my Guide

We are home from a wonderful time in Atlanta. Cricket was almost all smiles except for the flight home (long story short - delays = Cricket's dinner was overdue). The conference was amazing (yes, it has me wanting to go back to school and do further research), the time with Steve was fabulous - we had so much fun, and so very special to get to meet a friend  for lunch (much to share!).  I wanted to dedicate this post to the happy guide dog in this picture.

After six weeks off, Cricket did fabulous work in Atlanta. By our second time back to our hotel room - she knew Find the Room. With eight elevators as I told her Find the Elevator she walked right to the point where the Elevator button was located.  Find the trash was another victory.  After a day she learned the various rooms for the conference and navigated Find the Chair smoothly to help us  ... except for those sessions that were so popular there wasn't a chair to be found!  She walked and walked and walked with us and navigated the routes well.  She flew so well that when she popped up from under the seat on the plane some were not even aware she was there.  She used her skills of  Find the Counter on several ocassions at the outlets.  We had a moment of quiet where we sat there face to face and I said thank you, Cricket.  She gave me a little kiss proudly. 


Enjoying Stone Mountain with Steve and Cricket



I think she is going to be very happy that we have a full day at the office tomorrow which =  lots of sleep for her.  She worked hard this past week, and I am so proud of her (and very grateful to her). 

Happy Working Girls

On the way to the office, we stopped at Costco to pick up water and candy. Two basic necessities at Resilient Solutions, Inc.. I planned to put on Cricket's harness without the handle and heel her while I held on to the cart with Steve. She was so excited to wear her harness I decided to try and see how it felt to her. She immediately started to pull. She had her happy bounce in her step and guided me through Costco. It was amazing and reminded me of the first day with a guide dog.  We were both smiling. Happy Day! 

We returned back to my office, and took her harness off for the rest of the day.  She was so happy and had an extra bounce in her step all day. 

A new client came in and said that is a happy dog.  She has such a sense of purpose.  I laughed and said she got it back today. 

Have a great weekend.