I think the seeds were planted back then (and earlier); we’re now seeing them come to fruition. So it depends what you mean by “different.”

I suspect a cabal of guide dogs was behind this move.

(Also /s, because yeah… sigh)

Yeah, she was 34 when it happened and fell into a pretty deep depression for years. The amount of work she had to do to become baseline functional again was more than her marriage could bear. There were no kids, so at least that wasn’t a factor. The good news is she met someone amazing and got remarried once she had the energy to focus on that again. Overall her life is pretty incredible again, but it was a very tough journey to get there.

One aside that I think is cool that I learned about guide dogs is they can be trained to watch for obstacles at human head height. Rowing racing shells have metal oar riggers that stick out pretty far and when they’re stored on racks, and can be at a variety of heights and are easy to trip over or walk into. Her dog was trained to watch for these sticking out at up to about 6’ and walk her around them even if there was no obstruction on the floor. He knew the difference between what she could fit under and what he had to navigate her around.

My former rowing partner was one of the people blinded by eye drops before these safety standards were established. I’m sure she can vouch for how not-a-big-deal this is after losing her job, marriage, home, and almost her life. Fuckers.

I want to vote for frog-legs-guy. Can we get him on a ballot somewhere? Or maybe appointed to the Supreme Court?