I found myself thinking of my friendships recently — in particular my elementary to high school days and how earnestly my educational support team would want me to make friends with other children and “develop socially” or “learn social skills.” Many things were put in place, such as being told I couldn’t stick around the outside of the school building, having my books taken away, being put in resource groups with other disabled children. But my least favourite was the buddy system.

In April of 2021 I was matched with my first Seeing Eye dog, and the process was not just all smiles and wags. In fact, there were times throughout the training process I firmly believed I would not be going home with a dog, and it wasn’t until much later in my partnership with my dog that we began finding our way and loving each other. Now, my heart belongs to this sassy bouncy girl and I would never go back as she is my entire world and my eyes in this beautiful big world we walk through.