Mondays with Mike: Dog days

Last week I wrote about how our plans to surprise our friend Nancy to see Elton John together went awry. But we still managed to have a lovely time.

It’s all about the dog.

Well, another plan has gone awry, and this one’s a little harder to swallow. We’ve had it all figured out for months: My organization, PHIUS, puts on a conference each year, and this year happens to be in D.C. Great! Beth and I made plans to travel ahead of the conference dates and stay with our friends Pick and Hank. I’d stay on for the conference, and Pick would usher Beth to the airport to come home on her own—with Whitney, of course.

But wait! There’s more! As regular readers know, Whitney has been showing signs of wanting—needing—to retire. She’s just not up to rugged city life any more. Well, Beth did the paperwork to get a new dog and she was scheduled to arrive in Morristown, New Jersey, December 2. Poifect! Instead of flying back to Chicago, she’ll hop a train to Newark, New Jersey, where the Seeing Eye will pick her up.

With all that sorted, our only questions were:

• Do we have a retirement party/Seeing Eye fundraising event for Whitney?
• If yes, when?

But wait, unfortunately, there’s more. Last week Beth got a call from the Seeing Eye. Well, the good folks out there know Beth leads an active life and that she lives in the heart of a bustling city. They know from experience that not every dog is suited to those circumstances. And, as it happens, none of the dogs that have been in training for the December class match the requirements.

On the one hand, I can’t say enough about the Seeing Eye and how careful and serious they are about making things work for their dogs and their human students. On the other hand, well, this kinda sucks.

December works because Beth’s off from teaching. I’d be gone at my conference for one of the three weeks of training, so that was good too. Plus, I love Whitney, but she’s really testing Beth these days. It’s time.

Now, Beth has to juggle her teaching schedule and make it work with Whitney another month.

Which is all doable. There’s just something to working so hard to getting used to something you didn’t want to do in the first place (retire Whitney, and going through the process of teaming with a new dog), getting wrapped around that, and then, dang.

For me, it’s an inconvenience. For Beth, it’s a bigger deal. The Seeing Eye dogs are wonderful, and improve the quality of our lives immensely. The Seeing Eye is a terrific organization. We’re grateful.

But junctures like this, well, it’s sort of like Beth’s talking computer. It’s terrific. It’s life changing. But, if Beth had her druthers, or I had mine, she wouldn’t need either.

But she does. And like she has done since 1985, she, and we, will do what it takes.

I’m still hoping for a German Shepherd.