Zoomies

She gets a bad case of the “Zoomies” at least once a day.

Twice, if she’s had a bath.

Maybe like me, you share your home with a dog. If so, you know what I mean. Ours can be sitting next to me completely calm one minute and the next, spring off the sofa like she’s just had an electric shock course through her body. When the Zoomies hit, she’s off like a shot. Running as fast as her legs will take her up the flight of stairs, through the dining room and kitchen, down the hall, and back down the stairs to where I’m sitting. Usually, she’ll “ROO!” at me and then repeat this a couple more times before she finally comes back downstairs to resume her spot next to me.

Zoomies, it seems, can strike a dog at any moment and for no apparent reason other than the fact that it’s fun for a dog to act like a nitwit at least once a day. Maybe it’s because dogs don’t have to work for a living or shop for groceries or clean bathrooms or do any of the things humans do. They have more time for Zoomies.

When she isn’t zooming, Lilly does a lot of watching.  For example, I raked the yard yesterday and Lilly watched. She also watches me bring the groceries in from the car. When I’m cooking, she’s right there under foot, watching for something to drop from the counter. Every morning, when I’m in my office working, she is a few feet away, watching and waiting for me to finish so we can take a walk. Watching is not nearly as much fun as zooming.

Her friend, sweet, speckled, Sadie comes to visit occasionally.  She is a lot older than Lil and therefore, less prone to the Zoomies. She mostly sleeps the day away, only coming to bug me when it’s time to go out or get fed. Sadie gives me hope that some day the Zoomies will leave Lilly, too, and we will once again have peace in the kingdom.

But then, I remember that wishing the foolishness that comes with youth away is a bad idea. I know this from experience.  I did it too often with the other small two and four-legged creatures I’ve loved who’ve grown up and grown older and left in one way or another. Time, after all, is fleeting in the lives of dogs and children. It’s good to remember this when the Zoomie spirit moves this small pup of ours, who is joyful and funny and full of herself in the way that young dogs are. In Lilly’s world, there is only now. Right now.

There is joy in the now. Now  is worth celebrating, not wishing away. Lilly knows this.  She reminds me of that daily.

So zoom, zoom, Lilly. You go, Girl.

I’ll just sit here and watch.