Victorious Valentine 2

Today Hestia and I went to a new grocery store all by ourselves!!! This is amazing for me to go to a new store, do my grocery shopping, and pay, all without Brad there with me for the first few times. I couldn’t have done it without Hestia!

Brad is still recovering from our airport trip on Wednesday (hopefully he’ll have pics and we’ll have a blog entry done later today!). We needed groceries and Earth Fare only has non-perishables left. So I decided to try to go to Publix all by myself (well, with Hestia, of course!).

Since I didn’t know where anything was in the store, I had to go up and down almost every aisle! I found everything I needed, which was good. Overall Publix will be an OK replacement for Earth Fare, and we’ll only have to order a few extra things online or go to Whole Foods or Sprouts once every other month or so.

Hestia was VERY good in the store! Three times she tried to investigate pieces of trash on the floor (crumpled pieces of paper are her nemesis, she just wants to PLAY!). But other than those three times, she was right by my side, eyes on me the whole time. Perfect heel! Perfect sit stays while I was looking at items, and I did a lot of that! We were in the store for about an hour, and I was SO proud of Miss Hestia.

I took a few pics of Hestia in the store, of course, to celebrate the good behavior, and my achievement in going to a new grocery store without Brad by my side.

Everything was going well until we got to checkout. Hestia and I were fine in checkout, but as we were checking out, the bagger in the next aisle over vomited. Now, I have an emesis (vomiting) phobia! I cannot stand it, and I obsess about it, and it is just awful. I started to hyperventilate and panic. If I didn’t have Hestia with me, I probably would have run screaming from the store.

But, I had Hestia. So I looked down at her. She sat next to me, looking up at me in full googley-eyed-happiness. She smiled, and her tongue hung out just a little. I focused on her, and focused on my breathing. Just her and me, that’s all that mattered, and I managed to make it through paying and get out of the store!

I am SO proud of us! Let me count the ways in which I could not have done this without Hestia…

I drove to the store by myself, which I could not do before I got Hestia. I entered and shopped in a new store myself, which I could not have done without Hestia. I paid by myself, which I could not have done without Hestia. And I survived someone else vomiting, which I definitely could not have done without Hestia!

We are victorious this Valentine’s Day!

Below are pictures. Hestia is a small white and black Japanese Chin with googley eyes and a smushed nose. She is wearing a purple coat with a reflective service dog patch on the back. I am wearing pink leggings with giant dog heads on them and a pink sweater. I have long brown curly hair and turquoise round glasses.