I want this blog to be about happy dog stories – about the good times that I get to spend with these amazing animals.  But some days, I get to thinking too much and my experiences turn to pondering.  My serious pondering can be found in a somewhat abandoned blog at https://mebeingabetterme.wordpress.com/2014/07/ – but today … I am going to combine dogs and life as I see it.

A friend owns a lovely farm up the road, and she and her husband very generously plant an acre or so of sweet corn every year – and when the time is right, they invite friends and neighbors to help themselves.  Snickers and I headed over there yesterday morning to do just that.  Even though Snickers is not as zippy as he used to be, he still enjoys a romp, and I can trust him to stick close and be off leash.

With my current ankle issues, I had enough challenge walking through the corn and staying upright, so I didn’t get pictures of that part of the trek.  After we filled 3 bags with the sweetest of sweet corn, I decided we would go over to the Rapidan River ford, on the same property, and see what we could see.

Snickers was hot and I love to be around the water, but I knew the river was running high with recent rains.  I put Snickers on a leash for this leg of the trip and off we went.

I have stood in this place, thanks to the generosity of my friends, for some 25 years now.  I have been here on foot and on horseback, with my dogs, their dogs, groups of their friends, and by myself.  I value each and every time that I have walked this path, because I know that each time could be my last.

Yesterday, I inhaled the warm air.  I felt the mud slide between my toes as I slipped down that slick river bank.  I smelled those cows as they huddled in the shade.  I lived in that glorious moment – my best, most loyal Snickers at my feet.   And here is what I want to say to you, dear friend — value the moments that you are doing that which means the most to you.  Inhabit every nuance of those moments.  Memorize those feelings so you can call on them in dark times. 

I see the years flying by.  I feel the inability for my body to perform even simple tasks that I used to take for granted.  I want more time to embrace the things that matter, and less time being upset by the crap I can’t change, or don’t choose to change.  Whatever happens, I am only a blip on the time line, but I want to grab ever moment in nature – in harmony with all living creatures, for as long as I can … and when I can’t, I want to look at these pictures and feel the sun, smell the cows, and know that for a while, Snickers and I were fully engaged in being alive.