Brendan got a haircut that morning and put on his holiday party best and off Mom and Dad and Brendan went to the First United Methodist Church in Whittier.
From the moment we started walking up the street from the parking lot to the Church, Brendan was warmly greeted by person after person who knew him and talked directly to him. Brendan shook hands and smiled and realized the evening had something to do with his beloved therapy dog community. He began to say "dog" repeatedly as we continued our walk.
When Brendan was a student at the Cleta Harder School at Help for Brain Injured Children (HBIC), therapy dogs visited his class (and Áine's) weekly. Brendan has always been our family's St. Francis of Assisi. Animals of any sort have been his "thing" since he was a wee lad. He even used to leave nest materials for birds when he was little! As he aged out of HBIC, he started at Emily's Place, the Adult Day Program under the umbrella of HBIC. There he has been able to continue his relationship with PPT by helping run the dogs through obstacles courses every Wednesday. Wednesday is by far Brendan's favorite day of the week. He loves being with the dogs and clearly the PEOPLE of PPT and I can see why.
This is an association that had nothing to do with Mom and Dad until now.
That night of 12/3/2016 I was able to see firsthand the respect those of PPT have for my son as a person of his own -- as someone who loves their dogs as much as they do. To see him greeted and spoken to rather than at blew me away with pride. And Brendan, too, was proud. You could almost see his chest swell as person after person greeted him throughout the course of the evening and shared anecdotes of working with him.
The evening was filled with laughter and tears as various videos of PPT members were shared and awards given - both human and dog. As a person who rather likes dogs, but it oh so afraid of them, the evening moved me. I know how very much Brendan responds to animals and it was beautiful to see. Áine herself enjoyed many a visit with these wonderful creatures.
As the evening drew to a close there were four last awards. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to see my face on the screen and hear my name called. I was blown away - even did some public ugly crying I'm afraid - by the surprising and I still feel undeserved acknowledgement from such a wonderful organization. I am forever grateful for and humbled by the honor. The joy the human and canine members of PPT have brought to my children is one of the greatest gifts I could ever receive. The Rodeo Award is icing on the cake and don't ever doubt how very much it means to me.
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