A Tribute to a Special Therapy Dog Named Preston.

Posted by Barbara Techel


PRESTON

While it is always heartbreaking and sad to say goodbye to our beloved furry pals, I wish to celebrate and honor the life of a special dog named Preston.

A Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, he was the love of Julie’s life. Preston, who brought her much joy and comfort. He filled a void in her heart as she and her husband tried unsuccessfully for years to have a baby.

As an elementary school teacher seeing how some of her 3rd graders struggled to read, she began a program for her class to help her students. It was called “Pages for Preston.”

Reading to a dog, like many similar programs around the US, helps kids feel less intimidated and more relaxed when they know they are reading to a dog. And Preston was the perfect companion for just that. Oh, the stories he was read in his lifetime!

My children’s books, Frankie the Walk ‘N Roll Dog & Frankie the Walk ‘N Roll Therapy Dog Visit Libby’s House became books Julie’s students would read to Preston.

As a trained therapy dog through Therapy Dogs Inc., Julie also wanted to help others who wanted to do therapy dog work with their own dogs. She became a trainer/observer shortly after I met her when I did a presentation with Frankie for her classroom.

Julie and Preston would become the wonderful team that trained Frankie and me. It was such a special time that summer of 2008.

Working with Preston, Julie found it rewarding in giving back and making a difference as a therapy dog team. It helped take her mind off the fact that having a baby just didn’t seem to be in the cards for her.

I remember so well in August 2008 when Julie presented me with the official certificate certifying Frankie and me as a therapy dog team after our visits together to a nursing home. I felt so blessed to have worked with Julie and Preston. We had all formed a special friendship and I didn’t want our time together to end.

As we were riding in the elevator in the nursing home, I realized something different about Julie. A petite, small framed woman, she seemed “fuller” and was glowing. She would share with me that day that she was pregnant!

Preston, who provided love and understanding for Julie during those trying years, was also just what she needed in realizing that helping others in need served a far greater purpose than she could have ever known.

Julie and I remain friends. Because of our special connection and friendship, it seemed only fitting to me that Preston and her daughter, Lyla be a part of my children’s book, Frankie the Walk ‘N Roll Therapy Dog Visits Libby’s House.

Frankie, me, Preston & Lyla

Preston’s legacy lives on in the book and I’m so honored to have been a part of his journey in doing this. But I also know without a doubt that Preston lives on in the hearts of the many children who read to him over the years. What a gift he was for those kids!

But most of all, he was the best friend to Julie who he adored and loved with all his heart… and it is Julie’s heart that is forever changed because of her beloved Preston.

And This…This is the Reward.

Posted by Barbara Techel

B and J at Christmas eAnd here is a flashback photo of John and I!

John and I will celebrate 30 years of marriage in November. In January of 2015 we will have known each other for 36 years. We are, but aren’t, the same people when we first met.

So this is where I am going to pat ourselves on the back. Not many these days can say they’ve been married this long. It takes work. Hard work. Trying work. But work that can provide so many rewards.

I don’t recall when John and I decided to do our once a week date nights. I do remember though that for about a year around 2009 or 2010 when the economy was really bad, we stopped going out for our once a week date nights. Like many, we had to hunker down and be very conservative.

While it wasn’t quite the same, we did find ways to make at home date nights a bit more special with playing a game or cooking an extra nice dinner. We’d say that if we could make it through those times, we could make it through anything.

Date nights, to me, seem even more important when we are both busy. Though we both work from home, when we are in “work mode” we respect that about each other and try not to get in each others way.

John’s construction schedule is full. His crew is limited right now to him and one full time guy. It’s hard to find anyone who wants to work — and many small construction businesses seem to be in the same boat. But we are thankful for the work.

I’m busy preparing for my 3-part self-publishing workshop I begin teaching next week. It’s required much more than I anticipated, but I’m looking forward to helping others who want to get a book out into the world.

By the end of the day, we are both tired. This can make for less patience and we don’t always communicate as well. But date night always changes that.

Last night, with a crisp and brisk northeast wind we headed out to a favorite restaurant – cozy and warm with big windows to watch the trees blowing in the wind.

Something about sitting side-by-side, each on a cushy bar stool, an adult beverage in hand, we share what’s going on in our inner worlds. We talk. We connect. We grow.

It always centers me. It always makes me appreciate once again what I have in my relationship with John. The man I married almost 30 years ago. I could have never predicted the journey…but I give thanks for how we have both learned to ebb and flow with each other.

This growing together, and on our own –to be who we need to be — to be accepted — to be understood…. this the work…and love….love of 30 years is the reward.

Joie Getting Closer to Being on the Big Screen

Posted by Barbara Techel

Joie on set of the moviePhoto of Joie taken on the set of the movie, “The Surface.”

Hearing the news today that the film “The Surface” will make it’s debut during the Milwaukee Film Festival I feel a wave of emotion rise from my heart and flow out through my eyes. Tears of joy for the brief, small role Joie will play during a flashback scene – joy to know she is part of a family scene, living a happy life.  See, that’s the thing. Dogs in wheelchairs can live quality lives.

While the movie isn’t about a dog in a wheelchair, it is about (taken from website) “two strangers, both at the end of their rope, who suddenly meet in the middle of the unpredictable waters of Lake Michigan. As they confront the secrets and sorrows that brought them there, they find inspiration in one another’s struggle to survive.”

I was honored to have taken part in this movie with Joie, and that the film is about inspiration and ones will to struggle and survive. Oh, how my wheelie dogs have taught me that!

It is about one of the men who happened to have a dog in a wheelchair at one time in his life and this is when one of the flashbacks occurs.  To me, this speaks highly of character.

The film will first make the film festival tour before heading to the big screen. But stay tuned as I’ll be sure to announce here on my blog when it is in major theaters.

For now, you can view the movie trailer here.