Six Hundred and Counting!

That's right.
Nearly seven years since I started this blog and this is my six hundredth post. It's kind of amazing to think that I have managed to spew my verbal diarrhea out into the electronic world of the internet for this long. Seriously, who reads this stuff?! :)
It's also interesting to see how my writing style has changed. It's gone from "crazy, angry, advocacy" girl, to "more crazy, more productive, slightly more eloquent, still rants about certain issues" girl. Life is full of so many surprises.
I had started this blog to chronicle the adventures my first Leader dog Jetta and I had together. The blog has seen a few name changes going from "Jess and Jetta's Adventures" to "At A Glacial Pace" in honour of my second Leader dog Glacier. After his retirement this past July, I thought that perhaps it was time the blog had its own name, one that reflected me, but could also incorporate my successor guide dogs; whoever they may be. Hence, "Walking Barefoot in the Sand" replaced the previous titles. It's a long story as to where that name came from and maybe I'll tell it some day, but today, on my six hundredth post, I have some potentially exciting news that I think it quite fitting for a six hundredth post on a blog about a girl moving through life guided by a four legged companion.
In my previous post I talked about how a potential dog had been found to replace Glacier, but that he had been scratched off the list because he had skin allergies. After thinking about it for a few nights and talking to Mr. K about it, I emailed my trainer and expressed my certainty that I could deal with a food allergy. In fact, Roscoe has had food allergies in the past and I had forgotten about them because the allergies have been managed so well with diet. I also told the trainer that if it were an environmental allergy, such as being allergic to grass, that I was not prepared or equipped to deal with that type of allergy in a working dog. A pet sure, but not a guide dog. I then went on to say that I respected and trusted his judgment and was in no way attempting to convince him to train this particular dog for me. I just wanted him to be aware of where I stood.
A response came back this morning simply stating, "training started."
I'm not entirely sure what that means. Did he bring that dog into training or did the trainer himself go into class with other clients? I think it's the first so I have my fingers crossed.
There are other stages that the dog must pass in order for us to be matched permanently, such as us meeting and me actually liking the dog or he liking me, but at least this is a start. I'm trying not to get too excited just in case things don't work out, be it his allergies or we just aren't a good match, but it feels good knowing that something is happening. I am not just sitting around waiting. Well, I guess I still am, but  judging by my interpretation of the email this morning, things are progressing and progress is always good.
So, there you have it: the six hundredth time I've hit "create new post," wrote something potentially interesting or potentially not and hit "publish post."
Thank you everyone for reading! :)