Ok...so I got a little bit behind on the 100 new things. I got stuck on some cards that I will do and want to do but they require some time and planning and I didn't have that. So I cheated a little and skipped them and now I'm finally able to make a post again.
Do Something Fun
This week in the category designed to embarrass me, I bring you:
So, here's the video of me accomplishing this goal:
Amazing how hard it is to find things that start with T when someone asks you to do it. At least Trevor was around to help me out. He's a good boy.
Do Something Kind
This one was actually pretty easy. For some reason, I get very nervous actually making comments in a group on the Internet. I don't ever want to be that person. You know the one.
But there is one Facebook group that has been enormously helpful to me and I have no problem participating in that one when I have something to say.
That group is the online support group for blind dogs. This is a group of people who know the fear and guilt and uncertainty that comes with the decision to have your dog's eyes removed. They know the problems of training, walking, engaging a blind dog and how to overcome them. They know how it feels bonding closer than I thought possible because he is totally depending on me for everything. When Trevor and I went through his (first) eye problems, I was scared all the time. It broke my heart to see him suffer and not be able to help him, but it is terrifying to make the decision to have his eyes removed. What if he would have gotten better? Can he live a good life without them? Will he be living a full life? These are the questions that this group answered for me.
As it happens, the very day I drew this card, there was a new member of the group who posted questions just like this in the Facebook group. Since no one else had seen it yet, I got on and shared Trevor's story, as I have done a few times, and as others did for me. Having someone say "I know you are scared. I know it's a terrible decision, but if your dog is blind, there is nothing to feel guilty about. My dog felt much better after the surgery and is living his best happy life" takes so much weight off a difficult choice. It's a small thing, but I hope I helped that person feel a little better about a scary situation. Also, blind dogs rule!
I think there are times when commenting on the Internet can be ... fraught. Its easy to be misinterpret what someone has said without social cues, especially if it is an Internet stranger. But, sometimes, you can find a group of people who are just there to share a common experience and help each other out. If you find that, jump in! There are good people in the world, and some of them are even on the Internet.
Do Something New
This card also popped up at a convenient time. While I make small donations throughout the year, I drew this one in a week I was working on helping a new organization get started and I had been intending to make a donation, but hadn't gotten around to it yet.
Maybe I'll do a whole separate post about the organization, and why I stuck my nose in it when I don't really belong, but I guess it doesn't hurt to give the short version here.
I have some posts about Trevor, and about my unreasonable dependence on my veterinarian, so I have tried to educate myself on what that work entails. In the course of doing that, I learned a great deal about the difficulty of the field on veterinarians, but also on the technicians who treat the animals. I always knew I couldn't do the job, because for some reason its illegal to murder people who hurt dogs, but they also have really high rates of suicide, and ridiculously low pay for the work they do. And then on top of that people aren't nice to them.
Because I am such a needy vet client, I have made it my quest to be the best client I can be. So I started listening to podcasts and reading articles about what makes an ideal pet parent. In doing that, I came across a new group that was started last year to help ease some pain around the holidays in what was a particularly frustrating year for most people. That group is the Veterinary Industry Giving Tree.
They collect donations and then distribute those donations to people in need within their field. I think its amazing when people rally around each other within a community and help each other through hard times, and that's exactly what this group is doing. I also think one of the best ways to help dogs is to help the people who can help dogs. So I made a donation to this group. I took a picture of my donation, but it has the amount I donated, so I decided to leave it out. It's not a huge amount, but its more than I would normally donate just because a card told me to.
If you are looking for an organization to support, check this one out. veterinarygivingtree.com If you use amazon to buy all the things, you should turn on amazon smile and pick an organization to support. If you don't have another organization, choose this one!
Thanks for reading. Hoping to do more new things this week.
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