Medford graduates

Yesterday Medford graduated as a breeder. It started out with my family, my sister's boyfriend and I driving to San Rafael on Friday. We arrived to the Embassy suits at about 8pm, and checked in. I then let Palau run around our suit to burn her energy while I worked on my speech for Medford's graduation. Then it was off to bed. At 8am I woke up took care of Palau, and got ready for the graduation. At 10:40 am we headed over to the Guide Dog campus to meet Medford's breeder keeper family. We enjoyed sharing stories about Medford for a while, and then Medford's family had to leave. Once they left I enjoyed loving on Medford and showed my sister's boyfriend the campus. While walking through the kennels I happened to run into some of the trainers I had worked with during my internship few years back. It was great to catch up with them. I then headed back to the student dorms to have Medford and I picture taken. Then I met up with some memebers from my group for more pictures. We were having Medford and three other dogs from our group graduate that day, so we wanted pictures of all the dogs together. Then it was time for graduation to start. I was the second one to go on stage, and was allowed to say a few words about Medford. I had the worst time giving the speech, since I kept breaking down into tears. After my turn I was able to go sit in the audience and watch the students receive their guides. Once graduation was over there was a small reception where we had cookies to eat. Then it was time to say goodbye. We walked Medford to the kennels and checked him in. We then took him to his kennel and gave him the last few kisses. Then we had to walk away in tears. On our way home we stopped in Merced to drop Palau (who did great at graduation) off with her raisers. Yesterday was very emotional but I couldnt be more proud of Medford. I will post pictures from graduation once my mom emails me them.