This past weekend was the annual PSDP convention! For those who came in a day early, I had Hestia’s retirement party.
The morning started with me heading over to the hotel to meet Chris with Gabby and Deanna with Jaxson for breakfast. Felix was very good at breakfast! Deanna and Chris needed some things at Target, so we headed over there.
Chris and Deanna got store carts, and I was in my wheelchair, so we made quite the scene going through the store with our dogs and motorized devices! Jaxson rides on the floorboard of the scooter. While we were in the store, I got some pictures. I got one of Felix watching a cart go by, one of Chris and Gabby approaching us, one of Felix and Gabby on the floor together, and one of Deanna with Jaxson on her floorboards.
We also got video of Felix and Gabby heeling in Target! First up is Gabby, then it’s Felix.
After Target, a few of us headed to Everbowl to get takeout. I brought Brad’s and mine back to our yard, where Karin with Callie Mae joined us. Chris with Gabby and Conner joined us for a short while, too.
Pretty soon, though, Chris and Conner met up with Deanna and Sabrina with Indy and Russ at the park to set up for Hestia’s retirement party. Sabrina had gone to great lengths to decorate for Hestia’s party! They started setting up hours before it actually happened!
I offered to help, but was told no! So Karin, Brad, and I spent a few hours visiting in our yard. It was beautiful weather and we had a wonderful time chatting! Karin got to look through some of the donations for the convention and found a cute blue checkered service dog dress for Callie. So she decided to have Callie wear it for the party!
When we arrived at the park, Sabrina met us in the parking lot and gave Hestia and me purple boas! It was so cute! Brad got a picture of us by our van, and one picture of me approaching the party venue. But he got a video of the entire walk from the van to the picnic shelter, and boy was it great! Sabrina and crew had placed pink and purple pinwheels along the whole path, and there was a huge purple and pink balloon arch, and a sign reading “happy retirement Hestia”.
I was so surprised by the extent of the decorations! Brad got some pictures of us laughing, and my friend Betsey saying hi to me and the pups. The punch bowl that Sabrina made was amazing! It was totally filled with fruit and sorbet! It was so full it was hard to get liquid out of it LOL! Brad also got a picture of me underneath the sign Sabrina made.
Then it was time for the first game! This was a quiz about Hestia. The questions were multiple choice, but I will just tell you in this blog entry the correct answers. Here you go…
- How old is Hestia? 9 years.
- Hestia’s unique facial markings are called? Clown face.
- Hestia’s favorite activity is? Eating.
- Hestia’s first service dog outing was to what store? TJ Maxx.
- What’s the most embarrassing thing Hestia has done? Pooped in a store.
- Hestia recently dislocated her hip by doing what? Playing superman off the bed.
- What’s the most populous city Hestia has visited? NYC.
- Hestia’s favorite treat is? Anything meaty.
- Hestia’s favorite color is? Purple.
- Hestia’s nickname is? Little girl.
Brad got some pictures of people filling out the quiz, and of me going over the answers. My favorite picture in this bunch shows me in focus with the quiz in hand, and Sabrina raising her hand excitedly in the background saying that she got the correct answer!
In the end, Karin won the game, getting 8 out of 10 questions right! Karin said as her prize, she’d be happy to take Felix off my hands LOLOLOL!
Then we had some socialization time, and people started getting some gluten-free vegan cake I made, cookies (Sabrina brought some from Chicken Salad Chick), and punch. Nina was the official punch dealer!
During this time, I made Hestia’s retirement speech. The video is below this set of pictures. Here is the text of the speech.
I knew from the moment I first saw Hestia, bossing around all the adult dogs in her pack, that she was a brave dog.
She proved it to me when I took her to puppy class, and she was the first one to jump on the wobble board that was about as tall as she was!
She has continued to prove it to me over and over again—most recently when following a cat off of a 5-foot deck with no hesitation!
She’s been by my side for over 9 years, and I couldn’t have asked for a better partner.
With Hestia, I have re-learned how to drive. I have become more independent than I ever could have imagined.
She’s been there to cheer me on and support me every step of the way, with her big googley eyes pointing in opposite directions and her tongue hanging out happily for every adventure we go on.
While Felix is a good successor to Hestia, there’s something special about our bond that I will miss having.
I know Hestia is happy to spend more time at home sleeping, but a piece of my heart will always be at home with her, too.
Thank you for your service Hestia, you’re my best girl.
I cried a little during the speech, but not too bad. Then I got cake, and Sabrina tried to steal Felix from me while I was eating cake! He didn’t mind being held by his Aunt Bree!
Eventually it was time for my second game I had planned. This one was a MadLibs about an adventure Hestia went on! We had three groups making up the MadLibs, and then we all got together and read them out loud. They were pretty funny stories! It was too hard to import the MadLib into my blog, so you’ll just have to imagine a Hestia story on your own.
As the party wound down, Brad got several portraits of Hestia and Felix. He got a couple of selfies of himself wearing a blue hat and peacock shirt, too. Gabby got a few closeups, and then he got pictures of the spinning globe picture of Hestia that Karin gave us!
To wrap up the party, we got some pictures of Hestia, Felix, and Callie Mae on a boulder. Hestia is wearing a pink service dog dress, Callie is wearing the blue checked service dog dress, and Felix has on a purple harness. My two weren’t enjoying the photo session as much as Callie, so I took them down and Callie finished strong on her own!
After that, Russ packed up all the decorations and we headed to Burgers and Barley. Katie and Paul joined us there straight from their flight in! We were all quite tired by then, but dinner was still fun and tasty.
On the way home, we turned left from a 2-lane street to a 4-lane street. We turned into the right most lane. There was a cop behind us, and they pulled us over for that! We didn’t even know that was illegal! Luckily we just got a warning, but it was quite an adrenaline-filled way to end our night!