Piper Kate Pup-date

Leaving Piper Kate every day to work long and difficult hours at the airport is far and away the hardest part about this new position.

I hear you, people leave their pets and their kids and all sorts of stuff at home, to go to work, and slave away all day, all the time.

Not wrong.



But let's keep in mind that I am not struggling less just because someone else is struggling also. We don't play the pain Olympics around here, remember?

Before I spent three months with her, every single day, just the two of us - I also had her by my side since the day I brought her home. (Not to mention that I was beyond privileged to be able to visit her every single week from the day she was born until the day she came home.)

So to say it has been her and I for months and months, is not at all wrong.


Beyond that, as you know (do you? I think you do.) she is my service animal. She serves a very real purpose in my day to day life - especially now - that helps me mitigate my anxiety, cope with my depression, and keep a realistic grasp on my ED recovery plan.

To be without her during the day is one thing, to be without her during a 10 hour work day is another thing, but to feel the increased stress and anxiety knowing that she's home alone is a whoooole 'nother beast altogether.



I don't really have a solution right now. I don't really have a plan right now.

As much as she is considered a necessity for me, I'm also no longer in a position that can reasonably accommodate me. (For a lot of reasons, the first and easiest is that I am in and out of kitchens all day long. But also, I don't know how dogs pass federal background checks.)



So what does it mean?

It means I'm trying to find new ways to cope, every day while at work. It means, that as soon as I come home (usually 9 to 11 hours after I've left her) I get on the floor with her, we cuddle, and I cry.

It means I just miss her, all the time. And goodness, I hope it means you'll go hug your dog.



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