Day 21 – Mall Visit, packet review, graduation walk through, Goldstein family confirmation and packing

Friday was going to be a short day as far as routes go. After breakfast we meant in the Visitor’s Center and talked about graduation a bit and then transitioning home with our guides (travel, expectations at home, feeding, relieving, etc). After this we loaded into the busses and went to the mall. Jim was back and he worked with me on moving turns. Harold did awesome today! I picked up a card for the gift I am going to be giving Robin. The front of the card has a picture of a yellow lab (as a puppy) that very much looked like Harold. The inside is blank. More on the card later.

We got back from the mall and it was time for lunch. We ate and then proceeded into the discussion/lecture room to review our packets. The notebooks are quite large and most of the documentation is included on the accompanying CD. The top right corner of the first page of each documents has a hole punch if it is included on the CD. We were going to have the development lecture but our guest speaker didn’t make it.

We then had a ten minute break and then went to the visitors center to go through the graduation. They lined us up on the stage in the order we will be presented in and we walked through the entire process. After this we reviewed the plans for Saturday night and were then told to go and pack.

I waited until after dinner to start packing. I listened to Darrell and Karen do the Desert Skies Show on ACB Radio Interactive while I packed.

After packing I wrote up the message that was going to go into the card. Here is that text:

Dear Goldstein Family,

I would like to sincerely thank you for the precious gift you have given me of raising Harold.

Sheri and Scott:

Thank you for raising such wonderful children who are so loving and giving to others. Thank you for the time, patience and huge commitment you have undertaken as a family to raise Harold for my benefit. You will always have a special place in my heart. Thank you so much!

Robin:

Your love, compassion and willingness to serve are traits that are simply amazing. I can see through Harold what kind of special young woman you are. I so very much appreciate your willingness to be there for Harold and me. It took a lot of work on your behalf when you could have been doing a lot of other things as a young woman going to high school. Thanks for your courage, strength and willingness to put Harold first. You are truly an ambassador for Guide Dogs for the Blind and have represented what true character means in today’s youth! Thank you so much!

Bryan:

Thank you for the honor of reading the essay you wrote. It gave me insight into your family and especially Robin. I can tell you are a part of a close
family and the respect and honor you have shown toward your sister is wonderful! It is amazing that Harold and Robin have transformed many lives and for that I am sincerely appreciative.

Sam:

Thank you for the time and patience you had in working with Harold. I can just see him now going to your fourth grade classroom and interacting with the rest of the children. This will be wonderful as I interact with youth at church and in other settings.

Our hope is to stay in close contact as Harold and I transform into an even stronger team. We will send pictures and continue blogging events in Harold’s life as he travels around my home town and in other areas.

Again Goldstein family, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

With lots of love,

Jeff Harold Bishop

PS. The signature above represents the signature that Shari posted on blog comments and I love it!

I emailed it to the nurse Mary who assisted me in wrapping the gift and preparing the card. Thank you Mary, your awesome!

I am writing this on Saturday, the day of graduation. It is an exciting day and I am looking forward too meeting the Goldstein’s. This will be a wonderful opportunity. I will write more later. It is breakfast time.

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