Heather Gembarosky
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A Lesson In Patience
The person I would like to thank today is a little unusual. I know that I should be thanking my parents or my husband for all the love, devotion, and support that they have given me over the years. And they have been monumental in making me the person I am today. But patience was never my virtue until met the person who has been the most impactful in the honing of my patience levels, my dog trainer.
By Heather Gembarosky4 years ago in Humans
My Best Friend
Bear was my Best Friend from day one. The moment when he came over and started playing with my shoelaces I knew we would be soul mates. We had many adventures through the years and visited many states hiking, swimming and even looking for Bigfoot in Ohio! We did training classes together and even got yelled at by the teacher together! We dock dived, barn hunted and even did agility together, although, that was when I needed four legs! Then, right before Christmas two years ago, I got told that I had early stage cancerous cells in my body and needed to have surgery to remove them. Right after New Years, I had my surgery, but then the hard part began, the waiting. I had to wait for a whole year for the doctors to be able to tell me if everything was gone or had come back as it was very slow growing. You try not to think about it, but it is always there and was driving me crazy. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore and decided I needed to do something to get out of my head. Water has always been a calming aspect in my life so I decided I was going to get an inflatable kayak and Bear and I were going to learn to paddle, how hard could it be! Well, after several times of me ending up in the water and Bear, I know, laughing at me from the dock, we finally figured out a way to both get in without capsizing. Then it was just a matter of getting him to try and not bite the paddles in the water or jump out when he saw a squirrel on the shoreline. After a while, we finally had the hang of it. We started taking trips up and down our river as much as we could, he would just lay down and relax the whole time. The other boaters would get such a kick out of him just laying there, they said he looked like Cleopatra going down the Nile! For every trip we logged a skull and crossbones on our kayak and that signified every day that went by that I was still healthy and "cancer free". Bear was such a comfort to me on these boat rides, and we enjoyed our time together. If we stopped on shore and I would start thinking about it and start to cry, he would rush over and lick away my tears. If not for these river trips with Bear, I think I would have lost my mind while I was waiting. Bless fully, I was pronounced clear a year later but we still go on our river trips every chance we get.
By Heather Gembarosky4 years ago in Petlife
