I have been sharing my story and business plans with more and more people as I network and seek their expertise. And every single one of them has asked me why I don’t have a guide dog. I love animals and it is true I am eligible for a service dog. The fact is I am allergic to dogs and cats but even when I begin with this as my explanation as to why I don’t have a dog to assist me, I am immediately met with the assurance that there are certain breeds that won’t make me sneeze or feel the need to pop my eyeball out and lick it because it itches so badly. I understand and appreciate they are only trying to help but I find my feathers starting to get ruffled.
Our first bird was a 3-month-old lutino cockatiel, Cato, who joined our family 4 months after we married. He was with us for 15 years until he passed away. Five years after his death, we were finally ready to love a new little guy. As I’ve written about his adoption from a bird rescue on this blog often, I will only repeat that Piper became part of our flock 3 months before my vision loss and my greatest fear when I came home from the hospital was that I wouldn’t be able to take care of him properly. But as all of me mended, and I adapted and adjusted, time and love healed Piper too. He began to realize I wasn’t going anywhere no matter how many times he broke skin.
No longer out in the world working, Piper and I became the best of friends: playing, doing chores together and cuddling. He can be the only one I talk to all day while my husband and friends are at work and he chortles right back at me. He cannot help me to cross a street, maneuver in a store or retrieve something for me that I cannot see, but I have spent more time with him than anyone else since my sight flew the coop. He is counting on me, everyday, for food, water and clean accommodations, of course, but also to be his mom. He is totally dependent on me and being there for him as I had promised after I got sick brought me back to life. Although Piper can’t be with me outside my house like a guide dog would be, the team we have become inside our home has given me the confidence to spread my wings and fly.
