Say what?!
Ok, maybe it wasn't really quick. And it happened a little over an hour ago.
I mean, nothing in the past year and a half has been quick anymore due to my physical limits... But Charlie Majors and I just loaded up in the car and went. I had my keys tethered to my wallet with D links, and we stopped at the local dinky grocery 5 minutes from our place.
On the HUGE plus side, it was 30 minutes to store closing, and the handicapped parking spot was, no joke, a little less than 17 feet to the inside of the store. (Why yes, I did count the steps! Haha)
I hooked Charlie's harness up to the wallet mess and we walked in as fast as I could muster. I think he knew how I was feeling, because he did amazingly. No balking or anticipating commands before they're ordered. We got oriented to the department I needed, and we "Left!", "Yes! Right!", "okay, let's go!"ed our way to and from that department all the way to the checkout counter. I loaded our 4 items on the belt and he obeyed hand signals while I talked and it looked like I wasn't paying him attention!!! (I could have burst with pride!)
I had a pamphlet in the wallet and I paid, casually leaving behind the info. The only question I got from any of the staff was "Aww! How long has he been training? Have you heard of 'hand-in-paw'?" (They train therapy animals to visit hospital patients.)
I faced this chore with grim determination, pretty sure I would encounter an uneducated manager that didn't want us visiting (because we are in the boonies) and was really pleasantly surprised by the casual perfessional attitude of the employees, and the amazing parking spot. (I can't talk about the parking spot enough, but imagine it: I pulled in, opened the door, and the ramp was parallel to my side of the car. Up the gentle slope, the doors slid open and groceries awaited! It was SUCH a welcome break energy wise!!!!)
Charlie got lots of love and 3 training treats. When we got home, he brought the grocery sack in and stayed with me until my heart slowed back down from an almost syncope spell.
Mama's good, hardworking boy, and yours truly.
It's the little things (that are really big things), a good parking spot, nice weather, a good hair day :)
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