Today’s one is from the “Aw how cute file”. While out and about today TPP (The Pondering Paw) came across and old lady with a puppy. The contrast in age and stage of live was huge – the old lady in her twilight years and the puppy just starting out.
To watch them play together was a beautiful sight to behold. The puppy was running about with endless energy, whereas the lady was hunched over a walking stick slowly shuffling along.
She would throw a ball and the puppy would race off to get it, come back, drop the ball and look lovingly at “mum” hoping the ball would get thrown again. Sometimes as the puppy was chasing after the ball it would get side tracked with a smell or a noise. One gentle call of the puppy’s name from mum would focus it back on the task at hand… to retrieve the ball and take it back.
There was this one time the puppy found a big puddle while chasing after the ball. It looked like it had never seen a puddle before and tried to decide what it was. So after studying the puddle for a minute or two, it tentatively put a paw in the water. The water didn’t hurt or do any damage in the puppies mind so it then jumped into it with both front feet. The splash gave the puppy a little fright but it decided to try again. The next time seemed to be more fun and after a few more tries, the puppy was in heaven playing in the water. All the time mum watched patiently with a loving smile on her face. She was just enjoying seeing the innocent pleasure the puppy was having playing in the water.
After wasting some time watching these two TPP moved on. It had been such a simple thing, the old woman throwing a ball for the puppy, but each got as much pleasure out of the play time as the other.
After reading this, your homework is to ponder on the old lady and puppy playing, even put yourself in the scene. Try to understand and feel the enjoyment that was had by the simple act of throwing a ball for a puppy.
Ponder away!
