By Jill Farrell
No matter the weather, the day, or the stresses of life my dog Toby is ALWAYS ready to get outside. His day revolves around that wonderful moment when we leave the house and walk or drive out to beach, the woods, or the fields and the leash comes off. He’s a phenomenal reminder to me that I too, need the outside world to keep me balanced, focused, and centered. It’s not always easy to make the time – we all know the daily chaos of work, school, kids, groceries, errands, partners, parents, homes – finding the time to shut it all off for an hour and get outside sometimes feels like another thing on an overloaded to-do list, but Toby persists. His campaign to get me outside starts at 7am while I drink my coffee and start my day checking my emails.
I tell him to wait – which to him means sleep with an occasional bark at the mailman or oil delivery truck. I go about my daily work routine of email checking, writing, client projects, phone call making and hubbub. Though every time I get off a call there’s something about my voice that gets him up & he comes and checks if it’s time to go – I tell him it’s not, so he waits. Then it’s lunchtime – this time he tries to lure me with his frisbee and promises of great fun…
I tell him to wait…back to sleep for him and work for me. Once in a while I’ll turn from my desk to find him longingly looking outside dreaming of all the frisbees he’ll catch, the fun he’ll have, the seaweed he’ll sniff, and the fresh air he’ll breathe. But I tell him to wait…
And then like clockwork around 4pm every day his campaign starts in earnest…first he starts to circle around my desk. Then he begins to hit my elbow incessantly so that whatever I’m working on begins to fill with typos – he’s even realized that the mouse in my right hand is the real leverage point and so he knocks the right elbow the most making navigating on the computer impossible. I don’t even need to look at the clock because I know what time it is…it’s time for our therapy.
No matter the season, the weather, or the day I’ve had Toby is ready to go. You see, Toby is 11, almost 12, he is pushing 80 in human years which means he’s in his waning years of life. I can see his age when I look into his eyes getting cloudier every day. I can see it when after our walks he needs some aspirin and his soft bed to rest his achy hind legs. I can see it when his rump needs a boost to get in the car, when before he leapt straight up. For Toby, he only has a couple more years (if we’re lucky) left to do all the running, jumping, frisbee chasing, ball retrieving, seaweed sniffing, beach rolling, and FUN. So for him waiting all day is a REALLY long time.
I try really hard not to skip one day – it happens, mind you – life happens. But I try to remember that Toby only has so many days left he can play outside and that reminds me not to take my days for granted either. It’s trite but true – you never know what tomorrow will bring. He is my daily reminder to savor today.
And the thing is, our walks are as valuable to him as they are to me. I say it’s the “highlight of his day” but really, it’s the highlight of mine. Fresh air in my lungs. My eyes getting to look at oceans, trees, rocks, or beach instead of my computer screen. My face feeling coolness or dampness or sun’s warmth. Watching the outside world change from fall to winter to spring. My mind being able to drift away from to-do’s and worries. Putting my phone on airplane mode. It’s my walking meditation. It’s not just pleasant – it’s essential, it’s life giving. Watching Toby run with abandon, jump into the Gulf of Maine when it’s 22 degrees outside – living his life to the absolute fullest, having fun, enjoying every moment, not slowing with age or pain…that’s something I need to witness daily to remind myself to do the same.
Would you look at that – it’s 3:45 and something is hitting my right elbow…time to go.
