Great things about being blind. Train travel continued. Seat assignments

I know that this would never have happened to me if I hadn't been blind. This story evokes images which never fail to bring a smile to my face. I thought of it yesterday while on the train and almost laughed out loud. Remember a few posts ago when I talked about the well-meaning airline agent who gave me a boarding pass for my dog? If you don't, read back through my blog and find it under air travel. Once in a while, people who give me my train tickets also provide a ticket for the dog. This didn't happen yesterday and doesn't always happen but sometimes it does. On one memorable day, I was given a ticket with a seat in one car and my golden guide dog Gia was given a different seat in a different car. The images flooding my mind were wonderful. The blind woman escorts her guide dog to a seat in a car. She tells the dog she can sit on the seat (my guides always travel on the floor in public transit vehicles). She tells the dog to stay and not to surf the net or eat too much. People around watch in amazement. As the food cart comes by, Gia takes almost all of the food on it. Especially the raw carrots which she loves. After the much lighter food cart has passed, she facebooks all of her dog friends to tell them of her adventures and then settles down for a well-deserved nap. This never happened of course but I wouldn't have had the pleasure of imagining it if I hadn't been blind and issued a ticket for my dog. When we actually did board the train, we both went to my car and my seat and she curled up on the floor at my feet as usual.