A Dream Companion
Awakening from the nightmare of trauma.
In the dim morning light, before the sun creeps over the clouds, Charlie awakens to a horrific scene. A vivid memory plays like a nightmare through wide-open eyes and a racing heartbeat.
The barrage of artillery, the screams of terror, and the sight of blood-soaked streets in the war-torn zones of Iraq—Charlie wrestles to pull his mind from the flashbacks. But it won’t budge, stuck on the 70 soldiers he lost during his 24 years of active- duty Army service.
“Sometimes I felt like throwing in the towel,” he says. “That’s it for me.” The scar on his shoulder, a visible reminder of the gunshot wound that sent him spiraling from a helicopter.
The metal plates throughout his body, relentless sources of pain from 15 surgeries.
The anxiety, paralyzing him like a zombie wandering through the present while trapped in the fog of the past.
He sought peace through civilian life, but only service dog Lois could make that possible. “Lois saved my life,” Charlie says. “If I didn’t have her, I don’t know where I’d be.”
Lois stares steadily into Charlie’s eyes, offering a connection he never thought possible. A bond too powerful to believe.
As Charlie navigates a world full of people who simply cannot grasp the horrors of his five deployments, he finds peace in a set of soulful eyes and gentle paws that truly get it. Lois senses when something is wrong even before the dread hits the pit of Charlie’s stomach.
“She motivates me to keep going. She reminds me to never give up,” he says.
Lois propels Charlie forward as he prepares for triathlons, steadfastly watching over him as he trains on his indoor bike, inspiring him to step outside, hike, and find peace in nature.
She’s also there on the days when the anguish comes roaring back . . . like the one that he awoke to only weeks after welcoming Lois into his life.
The roar of gunfire. Haunting visions of the day in Iraq in 2009 when he lost three soldiers. Suddenly, he felt a gaze softly pulling his mind out of the terror: Lois.
As the sun illuminates the sky each morning, Charlie finds solace, and Lois finds purpose.
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