Finally a moment to reflect

So why am I starting off with the image of the button that Iris hit's? Well it always amazes people that she is actually trained to hit a button that calls directly to 911, so I figured that today a quick view of that would remind us all why Iris is so amazing and such a life saver to me. She still practices with this button and soon we will have a new modified version to work with the GPS enabled button that makes our trips in the camper less stressful for everyone else.

After what seems like a month of sundays Iris and I have had a few days of doing nothing. Yes nothing is a good thing once in a while especially if you need to take care of yourself and don't really do a good job at that. We finished our trip to Chicago up on Thursday afternoon getting home to more rain. As if the rains in Chicago that had me delayed a day were not enough, go figure.

This weather pattern has allowed us to put the camper on hold along with the yard work and any other kind of four letter words. We did have one trip over to Providence to see the doctors yesterday where they confirmed that I am doing fine at this point but should relax a bit over the next weeks to get some more energy back. We do not know if the new medicine is causing the extra tiredness or if it is the extra activity. Of course if you ask me I will claim that it is the meds and I really just need to push through the phase and keep going so I do not miss out on anything. 

I figured I would pop a picture of Iris and I hanging out at the Mystic Aquarium with one of the Beluga whales to show off some of our past travels. She is so great. She  really could care less about the whales but boy the whales were super interested in her. We hope to get back down to visit with them again soon.

We did get an email on Friday asking if we would be willing to take a quick day trip into NYC to do a TV interview if it came up but have heard nothing else on that at this point. The good news is that I have already worked out to grab some Daddy time with my daughter if that does come to fruition. If not Iris and I plan on hiding in the downstairs TV area on the 4th with the tv louder then normal till the fireworks are over and maybe Friday we will get out and get some pictures if all goes well. Rumor has it the Sunflowers may even be out in Griswold.

Let's talk about Chicago, what a trip. I can't say thank you enough to the open hearts of the members of the NCMS https://www.ncms-seminar.org/Home/index.asp they were wonderful host. America's VetDogs was their primary charity for this years convention and they raised a good amount of money there while at the convention and I am sure when the attendees get back to their local groups and explain about how they were touched by VetDogs even more will happen. I know for a fact that a good number of people want to get into the puppy raising side of things along with sponsoring dogs and a host of other functions. So many of them are prior military and or have been around the military that they really want to help our nations veterans.





The Young lady below is Melissa Stockwell an amazing young women soldier.

Melissa Stockwell

@MStockwell01 Follow her on Twitter

3x Paratriathlon World Champion, Paralympian, Prosthetist, Motivational Speaker, Triathlon Coach, Army Veteran, and lover of the red, white and blue. Go USA!

melissastockwell.com

I only wish that I could bottle the energy I took away from my talking to each and every one of them so that I could pass it along to others that have not been bitten by the charity of helping others. To listen to all of their stories of friends and families being affected in so many ways pushing their hearts to open and freely give to other Veterans they have never met but know need service animals to change their lives was such a blessing for me. Iris truly has rescued me but the people I come in contact with daily out there in the community that she touches with her eyes and story of helping me continues to rescue others.

All I can say is thank you all that allow me to carry this message to so many.

Yes this is Iris's newest Boyfriend Jake as they sit in the conference hall. They even hung out holding paws! So cute. Iris just wished he did not live in Chicago and that they both were not always working so often.