Well, I leave for France in just a few short days.  I’m armed to the teeth with technology so that I can stay in touch with my online classes. I must say, I’m totally stoked about them. Not only does the format appeal to the nerd in me (there’s not much of me that ISN’T a nerd, frankly), but I get to develop working relationships with people I might otherwise never get to work with.

So far, there have been the requisite technical glitches, but even those have been relatively minor. The Goal Setting and Mental Management class, as I predicted, had the largest registration. I don’t even know all the students very well…yet…but I am already so proud of each and every one of them.  It takes some real guts to stand up in a group of people, even people you can’t see or don’t know that you’ll ever meet, and say, “I have a dream”.  But this group of people took the plunge and have done just that, and I feel like a mother hen, protective of them. Fear of failure can be a HUGE obstacle to success in any venture in life, and just facing the challenge to admit that you want to be better is something to be admired and cherished.

I’m having a great time watching videos of what the students are doing in the Running Contacts and Foundation classes as well – everybody is working so well at being connected to their dogs.  I was a little unsure if I’d feel a connection to students who aren’t physically in front of me, and it IS different, but so far, I’m liking it. I know that the format and design of the classroom, as well as the curriculum, will improve over time, so I want to say a public THANK YOU to all of the students in this first class – you only get to be the first at something one time!

The blind cross video, ” Look Back“, is probably coming out Wednesday, excited about that – it’s been a tremendous amount of work, but I’ve enjoyed working with video editing for a few years now, and I’m happy to finally put my skills to good use for those who can benefit from the information. AND, Clear Mind is going to be out in print! Just in time for the holiday season, no less Publishing an e-book is one thing, but I’m super excited to have that paper puppy in my HANDS soon!

Let’s see, what else is happening this week before I leave for France? I have to get the dogs arranged, thank goodness for Blynn, she is a lifesaver beyond belief, providing me with a peace of mind I just wouldn’t have if the dogs were elsewhere. Especially Juno, my dear, sweet, little Juno…

Juno had a FABULOUS couple of runs this past Friday at the show, and of COURSE I failed to get them on video. Then Saturday, some setbacks.  She had a less than spectacular dogwalk, still in the yellow, but not great, and I didn’t bother to say “good girl”, as I was also trying to help her figure out where the NEXT obstacle was, and oh, that did not go well.  She was so sorry about that dogwalk that on the table, two obstacles later, she had to apologize by snuggling…which is an E, of course.  Then she hit a bar, and she was even more mortified.  She SO wants to get this agility thing right, and she’s so serious about it, my heart just goes out to her.  So, I’m extra glad that Blynn will have her – Blynn has a way with the soft dogs and Juno is my special girl, that’s for sure.

Anyway, back to busyness…packing, hopefully the local equipment supplier is going to have some jumps done this week so I can get some footage of them to show everybody before I leave…need to rubberize my aframe (red and blue, of course!), retrieve my dogwalk and seesaw from IADW, ship harnesses, ship Contactacoat, ship USA Team Supporter shirts…the list goes on and on. It hasn’t quite hit me yet, but I’m sure it will, as soon as I get on the plane to France.  Viva la France!