While this is a bittersweet announcement, I’m excited to share with you, and introduce you to, Angela Johnston and Maggie on the Move. After much careful and introspective thought since the beginning of this year, I’ve made the decision to pass the reins to these two who I adore and know will do the day proud, to carry on National Walk ‘N Roll Dog Day (NWNRDD).
As many of you may know, I founded NWNRDD in 2012 in memory of my wheelie dog, Frankie, and in honor of all dogs in wheelchairs. After publishing two children’s books and a memoir about my journey with Frankie, plus over 400 visits to schools and libraries in person and via Skype, and over 250 therapy dog visits, NWNRDD was a way in which I was called to carry on the work Frankie and I had begun in 2007, after her passing in June 2012.
Our mission to share with others that despite paralysis or other conditions causing an animal to lose mobility, that many could live a quality life in wheelchairs designed just for canines. Alongside this special day, The Frankie Wheelchair Fund was also established and funded 70 wheelchairs to dogs in need from the generous donations from others from 2012-2017. I’m truly so proud of the many lives Frankie and I were able to touch in partnership with this special mission.
I also know that Frankie’s mission was to help me to grow more confident and to continue to evolve. This means that change is inevitable and in order to grow it means we sometimes have to let go. While not always easy, I know the time has come. I feel confident about handing the reins over to Angela and Maggie.
When I recently contacted Angela to ask if she’d be interested, it was a pleasant confirmation as the right decision as I learned that she too had been letting go and opening to focusing more on what matters to her. She shared with me her wish to work more with wheelie dogs and their families. How perfect the timing to add to that extension of her outreach with NWNRDD?!
While I’ll always have a special place in my heart for wheelie dogs, and all dogs and other animals really, it’s because of their teachings I continue to expand in who I am. As I wrote in length on my blog about another big transition and healing I recently went through, this letting go of NWNRDD is part of my journey in moving forward. While a difficult decision in some ways, I weighed it all out carefully, and I every time I tapped into the center of my heart, I knew this was the right thing to do.
Living a meaningful life means opening to new possibilities and answering the call to what your heart is speaking to you at any given time. For quite sometime now, as I’m sure you know as a faithful reader of my blog, you’ve witnessed my need to expand and be of service helping women through transitional periods of their own.
From what I’ve learned from animals, I continue to feel the call to guide women through the art of pausing to find joy and meaning in what matters to them. Whether through my writing for my blog, upcoming books I may publish, to one-on-one personal guidance sessions with women, and facilitating workshops, this is what pulls at my soul at this stage of my life. Animals, nature, the mystical, and creativity will, and continue to be, part of this.
Over the years of trying to “do it all” I’ve also come to understand that we women sure have put an awful lot of pressure on ourselves to do just that. While I believe we can still experience as much as we choose, what I also believe is that we have to learn the art of letting go, and that it’s perfectly okay to do so.
Life is about change and within transition we have the opportunity to gain new perspectives to guide us to what is next. So while I delve more fully into this new stage of my life, I am honored to give another woman a chance to step into what she is feeling pulled toward also. And that in itself speaks to what I truly wish for all women —to embrace and answer their own inner call. I have no doubt that is what our animal friends want for us, too.
So what will the new change look like as Angela takes the reins for NWNRDD? Basically it means she is taking full ownership and will be taking over the Facebook page, where the majority of updates and inspiring stories have been shared over the years. It also means that you will get to experience Angela’s wonderful sense of humor in the way she writes and shares stories of wheelie dogs, plus not to mention her big and loving heart. Also, I’m quite certain you’ll get to know more about Maggie on the Move and her boyfriend, Artie the Wonder Dachshund.
Last, but not least, it was because of Frankie that I came to know Angela through the world of Facebook, and also her first sweet and oh-so-fun, wheelie dog, Skippy J.
Skippy J in his own amazing way also brought a positive face to wheelie dogs while he rolled this earth touching so many lives! In his memory, Angela has been making great strides helping fund wheelchairs for dogs in need because of the love Skippy J shared with her. How cool is that?
So in loving memory of Frankie and Skippy J, I’m thrilled to be officially passing the reins to Angela and Maggie to carry the torch and light the way for many more inspiring stories of wheelie dogs! Please help me welcome Angela and Maggie by visiting NWNRDD!
A sincere, loving, and if I could wrap my arms around you and give you a big hug, THANK YOU to all who have supported my mission over the years. I couldn’t have done it without you!!
Always be positive, make a difference and keep on rolling!!
XO,
Barbara
This, I am convinced, is the real teaching of wild creatures:
by so fully being who they are,
they show us how to be who we really are.
This is the great lesson of the Wisdom of the world.
~ Gerald May, The Wisdom of Wilderness