At the risk of sounding like “that” person, my parents are getting a puppy this week and I could not be more excited.
A few weeks ago, I texted my mum my return flight details, as she would be picking me up from the airport the following day; she replied: “OK. Want to go look at a Jack Russell puppy after I pick you up?”
I remember this clearly because at the time I was making pancakes with my little cousin in my aunt’s kitchen, and I obnoxiously screamed in a way that must have sounded more like a cry of terror than one of joy because my aunt burst into the kitchen expecting to see her 9-year-old with a third-degree burn or something to that effect.
I calmed down, realized I am probably too old to be gleefully screaming in my aunt's kitchen (this was a fleeting realization because you are never too old to jump for joy), replied “YES” to my mum and demanded pictures immediately.
So, there we were in the kitchen oohing and aahing over the photos my mum sent, bonding instantly to what was at this point only a potential future dog. But as my aunt aptly put it, “Who goes to see a puppy and doesn’t get it?”
Sure enough, the next day my mum, brother and I are cuddling 4-week-old puppies in a retired couple’s basement – one of them being Tumbo, my parents’ soon-to-be puppy. We left well past our welcome, the deposit paid and the disappointment of the five-week wait to bring Tumbo home dawning on my mum. Luckily, the wait is not much longer now.
Through this process, I have been thinking about what makes pets and animals so special. It is wonderful to think they can just “be” and that is enough for us to cheer (or in my case shriek), or that they can turn small moments into lasting memories and connect us with those around us. I cannot think of many things that would cause me, my mum and my 20-year-old brother to all be in one car together, excited about where we are headed.
In fact, a lot of my best memories involve animals, some wild, some domestic, but all very fond. Every time I leave my house and come back to my own dog who is beyond excited to see me – even if it has only been 10 minutes – my mood improves, and my life is made better for it.
I imagine every day you walk into the barn you feel a similar moment of peace when a cow or a calf does something endearing. You might be stressed or annoyed, anxious or exhausted, but I would bet there is always a moment when that feeling softens, even if just for a second, when you connect with an animal in the barn. That is a pretty cool thing. Not everyone is so lucky, and I hate to think what they are missing out on. A wagging tail and bout of zoomies is not something I like to take for granted.
