30 Days of Gratitude: Friendships Part 2
Every once and a while, someone has come into my life and actually influenced its trajectory. This post is about my friend Lin.
I first met Lin in late 2006. My golden retriever Molly had just undergone surgery for a torn ACL and I was referred to the University of Minnesota Veterinary rehabilitation center. Lin was one of the rehab technicians who worked there at that time. My first meeting was with the other tech, Barb. After I described Molly and her fantastic flyball career, Barb felt I would be better served by Lin. But she did warn me: “she’s pretty direct.” I knew right then and there that Lin would be the right choice for us.
We got right to work: Lin gave me homework in the form of exercises to do with Molly at home. In addition, I showed up once a week for the underwater treadmill. While Molly was on the treadmill, we got to know each other. At that time, Casey Mae was around 8 months old. Lin invited me to the Minnesota Horse and Hunt Club for a European Driven Shoot. This is where shooters form a large circle and shoot at birds that are released from a station. Handlers bring their dogs to make the retrieves.
I will never forget my first time there. I wore my cute little light blue plaid jacket and inappropriate boots. Lin didn’t say much, but gave me an extra orange vest to wear. She then helped me get oriented and I threw dead pigeons for CM at the end. CM loved it. I got blood on my pretty plaid jacket, but I was hooked.
When Molly returned to agility in the spring of 2007, I sent Lin a picture to remember us by.
Molly and I came back for rehab for her second torn ACL. She had this surgery right before her 10th birthday. She returned to flyball late that following spring of 2008. I continued to see Lin at the shoots.
In late December of 2008, right after she earned her Flyball Grand Champion title, Molly developed some significant pressure behind one of her eyes. We finally ended up with an ophthalmologist who recommended surgery to remove the eye. The day of her surgery I received a call that they could not proceed because her vitals were so poor. The next day we were back at the U of M going through a battery of diagnostics with a chest x-ray revealing massive tumors. As I struggled to make sense of this, while discussing options for chemo with a very young student, Lin happened to walk by. I burst into tears upon seeing her. In her matter-of-fact way, she said, “I will go look at the x-ray and talk to (I forget the name)”, the Director of Internal Medicine, whom she knew personally. A short time later she came back and said, “she is full of cancer. You have a couple of weeks, max.”
As devastating as it was, to be able to hear the news in a direct way from a trusted friend, was the best I could ever hope for. And about three weeks later, Molly was gone. I had prepared myself as best I could and I will always be grateful that her suffering was minimal. She ate heartily right up until the night she passed.
Back to Lin…..I had been working hard trying to train CM for AKC hunt tests, but she had never been force fetched. In order to have a good delivery to hand, dogs need to be trained that they must hold the bird until you take it from them. CM would drop it at my feet. While that was good enough for HRC tests, the AKC requires a delivery to hand. So one evening, we headed over to Lin’s, where she showed me what I had to do to get CM to comply. It was really interesting for me to watch what was going on. I got a better understanding of CM’s personality by watching Lin work with her. I also learned that CM had significant powers of manipulation….something with which I am still coping to this day…. :)
Wonder of wonders, CM got her Junior Hunter title in the late summer of 2010. And I still saw Lin at the European Shoots. Jet came into my life in 2012 and I remember telling Lin that I wanted to go further with him. She had been going south to train for a couple of years in the early spring of 2013, she invited me to go along. Because of my schedule, I could not make that happen. However, we trained a bit together in the summer of 2013 and I ran Jet in a Junior Hunt test under her. At the end of that summer, she invited me to form a training group with the same professional trainer with whom Jet and I had been working. I was ecstatic.
In March of 2014, the first Fun Field Training Trip was launched. And on that trip, I think she would agree, we evolved from friends, to really good friends. I will confess: the last time I traveled with someone, it had turned out badly and I was beginning to doubt my abilities as a decent traveling companion. Lin assured me that she, on the other hand, was a great traveling companion. Turns out, she was right! We had so much to talk about while traveling from MN to GA. Of course we conversed about field training, but also religion (or lack thereof), politics, family, careers, dogs, gardening, clean eating, and more. There was never a dull moment. It ranks as one of the best vacations I have ever had. When we came back, we trained together Monday nights. It was a great summer. I learned so much and had so much fun.
This past spring, we did the sequel FFTT and went even farther south. Lin introduced me to more trainers and influential people in the field training world. I got to run Jet on some amazing training grounds. Over the last couple of years, I have gotten to know Lin’s partner Cynthia. She has also become a good friend and “Monarch Mentor.” Cynthia was the inspiration my monarch project this past summer and has helped me with gardening questions as well. When I struggled with Jet this past summer, Lin has been there with a beer and a helpful ear to steer me in the right direction. She is one of my go-to people when any physical issues with my dogs arise. We are right now in the preliminary stages of planning for FFTT 2016 and I couldn’t be more excited and optimistic.
It's hard to imagine what my life would be like if Lin had not come into it, but I dare say it wouldn't be nearly as interesting!