I expected that things in my life would change when I received
my first Guide Dog, but it is different than what I imagined. Parts of my life
that I never dreamed would change did, and things I expected to change stayed
the same. One example of this is friendship. I actually have lost friends since
getting my Guide. I don’t fully understand it all but how I see it is that I
started standing up for myself since Racer arrived. Some of my friends didn’t
know how to accommodate that change in me. I don’t blame them because
when you form a friendship you usually fall into roles and continue to carry
out those roles because it is comfortable and when something changes, it can be
hard to readjust. Also I retreated a bit from friends when my dog was bitten by
another dog in a store shortly after he arrived here. I’m not always the best communicator
so I am sure I share the blame. I don’t want to dwell on the lost friendships
because I have also gained many fulfilling friendships because of Racer. Many
of these great people are affiliated with Guide Dogs for the Blind (GDB). Some
are people at work that have reached out to me. Some are people living right in
my building but we had never connected until we started chatting about our
quirky dogs. I have become friends with a lovely woman at our bus stop. It makes
our bus route more interesting and fun when Racer & I exit our first bus and head
around the corner to catch the second bus, and as we walk I hear a cheery voice
call out, “Hey Jenny! How are you? Guess what happened to me last night?" A
smile comes over my face and I know that it was totally worth it to get up at
5:30 for the millionth time and trudge out the door to face my fears and continue
the routine. I love my friends!
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