Happy? Tag! You're it.

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     Several years ago when I met Emma, there was and eerie telepathic communication that went between us. We walked together and she looked at me with eyes that were full of brilliant desire to communicate. It was startling and a little freaky. She was determined and intense about making me understand what she wanted. When she and I arrived at her house I told her humans, "If you ever breed her, I have to have one of her puppies." A year later, Emma had puppies and we were gifted one of her sons, named Buddha.       Immediately, I called my Uncle living on a large piece of property in Colorado and told him that my husband and I were new owners of a Border Collie. My uncle had Border Collies in the past and he said, “You don’t own a Border Collie, they own you.” He added, “They are the smartest breed, smarter than a 4 year old. Heck, the guy down the road has one that has a 500 word vocabulary and he couldn’t run his ranch without him. You best keep him busy and I don’t just

It was early, the sun had not come up over the chain link fence yet and the pool mates at the local Y were in the pool jogging. Don plowed through the water in the deep end talking to Hans about matters of the prostate and to my right two women were talking about passion. Ok baby face, before you wrinkle your nose and let the milk from your morning breakfast cereal start to come back up in disgust, get over it; health and passion top the list of hot senior topics. Seniors have a lot on their plate and they need to be healthy for all those passions. You read "passion" and thought sex, right? They are thinking about, talking about, and yes, having sex; the latter has been  inferred at the pool. The passions your parents and grandparents are talking about are post retirement dreams. Stan of Naples Florida is 65 and a ball boy in tennis tournaments, www.sports1234.com/tennis/293-1-tennis. Bill, 87, has the record as the oldest man to reach the summit of Mount Rainier. He cli

Original post 2008- It's worth reading again. This weekend I took a workshop led by James Twyman, the author of the Moses Code. I highly recommend the book, the movie and the CD. One of the tracks of the CD has a frequency meditation based on a numerical value of the name of God. Not the word God but the name of God. When author, James Twyman played the CD in the small conference room, the energy shifted. You can call me goofy or Pollyanna... or you can just get a copy of it and listen to the Moses Code Meditation track. We had all just come in when he asked us to close our eyes and feel the energy in the room. What I heard was someone switching an old radio dial....interference and noise. Then he played the Moses Code Meditation track, just part of it. When he turned it off he asked us again to feel the energy in the room. What I heard was a hum, a pink and purple rainbow hum. Back to my earlier comment when I said you may call me goofy, yes, I heard colors... I liked it so

"My name is Pearla." "Pearla, what and interesting name," I said. "I was named after my family. Pe- for Pedro my brother, Ar- for Armando my other brother, L for Luciana my mother and A- for my dad Allesandro. I wish my name was Liz; but, no one has a first name starting with the letter I or Z in my family. I like the name Liz, like the woman in Eat Pray Love .  I am just like her except, I have two daughters. I love my dark chocolate and my white chocolate. I have a picture, look." She picked up her cell phone and showed me and image. "The dark one, she's ten. Her name's Julianna and the white one, she's only six months old. Her name is Maria. "Adorable," I said. "I love them so much." Pearla smooched the photo on her phone. She picked up my right hand and started rubbing off the nail polish.  She continued talking. "I don't love the man I'm with, Maria's father." "That's incredible,"

“It’s a beautiful morning,” Dorothy said. “Perfect-really,” Dottie said. They were chatting as they usually do and making small waves in the deep end of the pool in the early morning adult swim class. “I do miss our life guard Chase don’t you?” Dottie said looking up at the empty life guard chair. Dorothy looked toward the chair. “Yes, he was a nice young man and so pleasant. I wonder why we don’t have a life guard anymore? We certainly need one more than those few people swimming laps,” she said surveying the rest of the pool. Another woman had just returned from Lake Michigan where the morning temperature had already dipped into the 50’s. “Ah, I’ll take this sunny clear blue sky any day,” she said. “The water is nice and warm this morning too,” Dottie said. As the class drew to a close, the ladies noticed a life guard taking his place up on his chair. “Oh my! Well, he’s not Chase now is he?” Dorothy said and looked at Dottie. Her brow was wrinkled and her lips were tight mak

     Bad things don't happen to me; but, when itching, pain, burning, body aches, nausea, and head aches continue to linger from a spider bite; I wonder.  In the spirit of positivity, I decided to rally and spin some light on the event. According to Louise Hay, "Spiders carry creation energy, a perfect metaphor for spring, when we blossom anew from marrow."  My bite is on the lower jaw, under my chin.  Could it be a message to take it on the chin? Is there something creative I need to chew on? Yes, yes indeed.      Maybe the bite was a direct message from the Universe.  At a totem website I found, "The bite of a poisonous spider symbolizes a death/rebirth process. Poison enters the nervous system and the body either transmutes it or falls victim to its venom and dies." There will be no dying here, not in the literal sense anyway. Where am I dying and being reborn in my life I wonder?      Shamanic teacher Nicki Scully, writes, "Spiders communicate with

I was sitting on the top of the grassy hill near a dried up watering hole watching what I thought was the most beautiful sunrise spill out into the morning sky. It was a brilliant show of red and orange hues that laced through puffs of grey and white clouds. The s ky  called to me, "move forward c ome" it  seemed to say. Even though I had rested for awhile, I was still dead tired. So, there I sat on the side of South Post Road watching the sun break over the trees and then it dawned on me today is the day I will die. I felt it. It was time to lift up my size 14 body, (that’s in inches), and get moving. Eight summer seasons ago, I was born a male soft shelled turtle and today will be my last. There was a time when I could inflict a serious bite with my powerful jaws, and sharp jaw sheath. My neck is built to extend, twist, and chomp. I also have well-developed webbing on each foot. I was lightning fast in the water and also on land. Sitting on that hill looking down at the

If living in Florida is so dangerous, then why have so many of us migrated  here?                It's no secret, Mother Nature's tough on the sunny state inhabitants. For starters, six months out of the year there are threats of hurricanes. This season is supposed to be one of the worst; Floridians had an unusual long cold winter followed up by a sudden heat wave.  The ocean water is warmer and s torms are predicted to be on the rise. There is plenty of rain in Florida. The heavy storm down pours flood most streets around rush hour. That’s always fun. Not! Those same storm cells also hurl thunderbolts. Light ning sirens at parks, schools and most outdoor recreation areas sound off telling everyone to seek shelter and there’s a good reason for that. “Waiting to see or hear the first stroke of lightning means that you’ve been at risk of a direct lightning strike for 30 minutes or more already.” http://www. spectrumthunderbolt .com/lightningfacts02.html. One night the local

Like most of the folks that have been attending the YMCA water class for several years, Louise never imagined that she would still be a regular three years later. What was it that moved her to show up every morning? Was it the fact that she had become the teacher’s pet? Perhaps it was the camaraderie? Maybe it was the handsome lifeguards? Was it something else? Could it be as simple as the glide? “We deserved this. We deserved this. We deserved this. We deserved this.” Louise chanted as she floated on her belly holding her water weights with ease on top of the water. She passed us going the opposite direction with her arms and legs out stretched relaxed. She was doing what our instructor calls, “The Glide.” Louise’s voice was deep and sounded relieved like someone sounds after they have just woken up or were in the throws of an endorphin rush. “Endorphins are released during long, continuous workouts, when the level of intensity is between moderate and high, and breathing is difficul

She mouthed the words, "Oh my God!” Earlier in the ladies locker room the Brit, Dorothy stood in her black rubber water shoes and her conservative multi-colored one piece bathing suit. “I have this visor but I just hate the way it feels on my head. I’m not sure why I need it exactly?” Raising from the bench another woman moved next to Dorothy and looked at their aging reflections in the mirror. “Wear it. It will keep the sun off your fore head. You will thank me later.” In the pool surrounded by deep water and suffocated by a floatation belt, the added pressure of the black visor on Dorothy’s head was unbearable. Sloshing to the edge she took off the visor and left it there. An hour later bare chested, ripped, tan, life guards were in the pool moving the lane lines. Dorothy smiled to herself, “What a delightful treat.” She felt good all over. She even forgot for a moment about the tighter than tight blue Styrofoam waist belt and the shouts from her instructor, “Hold

What if the what ifs come true when we focus on the what ifs we don't want? What we think of most will be. A boy believed he would not pass math and then he would have to go to summer school. He believed that he would most likely flunk middle school and not make it to high school. He did not flunk math. He was told by the school counselor that he passed all his classes. He was told to celebrate. He did not. Disbelief was in his eyes. The last day of school he skipped and did not take a final exam. Because he chose to skip, the school would not allow him to take the exam and they did not pass him. Self fulfilling failure. Yes! What power! "A" students have the same power. They believe and they get what they believe. Indeed, the optimist is right and the pessimist is right.

Yesterday, driving back from the Miami Airport with my in-laws, my Father-in-Law, aka Mother Teresa in pants looked at the phone my husband had just picked up to receive a business call and asked, “Is that a blueberry?” I couldn’t make eye contact with him when I answered, “It’s an IPhone.” Smiling I thought to myself, he’s just so adorable-blueberry, blackberry he was close. Today in the local pool one of my favorite older ladies who’s husband just passed away watched as one of the swim coaches walked by with a large gray rectangle shaped box and asked, “Why does she bring that heater to the pool?’ Again, I found myself smiling. I thought, it does look like a heater; but, it’s a time clock. One of the other ladies in our water class filled her in. Then there is my Mom. She can not say the word “Fajita” to save her soul. She’ll proudly say, “Let’s have Fra -Gee-Ta’s!” We’ve corrected her so many times now that we’ve given up. We just let her say it her way. We call it a Dori-ism.

When Judy Garland sang, “Somewhere over the rainbow” I wonder if the pilots on the shuttle Atlantis were inspired when they were young by the lyrics, “Somewhere over the rainbow bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow. Why, oh why can’t I?” Twelve days ago, Atlantis and six astronauts took off for one last mission and I missed it. When we heard the loud boom and then a softer boom, in the pool this morning at 8:48 none of us recognized the sound of Atlantis reentering the atmosphere. In retrospect, it did sound like a sonic boom. Seeing as we are at war and our current culture is on guard for terrorist attacks, one person said, “I hope I don’t see a mushroom cloud.” Another said, “Don’t even joke about that sort of thing.” I felt a cold chill run through my body. The lifeguard said, "My chair shook!" Then, someone said, “It must have been an explosion from a plant in Ft. Lauderdale .” Then we feared for the lives of those people. The pool was quiet. We stopped moving and looked

We are shaped by our careers. Each and every one of us is. I never realized how true that statement was until this morning in class with my swim mates. One of the gray haired ladies was making her way from the shallow end of the pool to the deep end where Amy and I were pumping water weights and peddling our heavy water shoes in reverse with out touching the bottom. Wading toward us she questioned, “I can't do this. How are you two doing with this one?” Our voices bounced from the water to the incoming older woman’s ears. “Great!” We shouted sounding like an old “Tony the Tiger” commercial. The woman sloshed back to her side of the pool picked her feet off the bottom, struggling peddling and pumping the heavy water. Amy, my swim mate turned toward me and quietly out of the side of her mouth she confessed, “I wasn’t going to tell her that this was killing my hamstrings and that my biceps are totally shot.” No shit I proclaimed, we’re in sales!

One of the female YMCA members brought breakfast wrapped in foil, every morning for one of the male lifeguards and swooned over him. This behavior went on for days and finally, I looked at the guy in the pool next to me and whispered, “Why does she do that?” “She’s trying to recruit Hunt as her future son in law.” He laughed. I’ll admit, on the surface, he would make a good son in law, tall, handsome, out going, nice, and respectful; but, there is no way I would bring him breakfast every morning and gush over him. It’s just strange. Today when we filed into the pool at 7 AM and said our hellos to the young college age Hunt perched six feet up in his life guard chair, none of us imagined what was coming next. The gate to the pool flew open crashing metal on metal and Lala the Hispanic want to be future mother-in-law thundered toward Hunt hotter than flaming hell salsa on a chetto chip. Like a freight train on a track she was unstoppable. She halted at the base of Hunts chair, th

There are two ladies I recently met in my morning swim class that moved to Florida from S. Africa. They both have beautiful sing song voices. It's truly a pleasure to listen to them. I’ve noticed they use fun words with built in zest that Americans just don’t use, not often anyway. When I do something correct in our swim class, the one lady will say, “Robyn you are a star!” with emphasis on the word “Star.” I don’t know about you but, I rather like being called a star. They say phrases like, “Aren’t you just sporty today” or “Look how spectacular we are!” or “This is quite splendid,” all the while sounding very cherry and feminine. I adore them. I didn’t know it until I met them but they use a lot of words that begin with the letter “S”. They also use a lot of “F” words, “Fun”, “Fantastic” and “Fabulous.” Hearing all those “S” and “F” words makes my day a little brighter. Try it.

The swim mates are multiplying! When I started three weeks ago there were about 10 regulars, then it quickly grew to 15 and today we had 19 chatter bugs in sparkling blue YMCA pool. I am auditory. I can listen to several conversations at once, the direct conversation I’m engaged in, the instructor’s shouts, the person’s conversation next to me and the person next to the person next to me. There is a constant buss in the pool. With 19 people it is crazy- like a noisy restaurant. Maybe that’s why we always seem to talk about food. Zipping along, rolling my water weights and jogging forward in the deep end as if I was running to rescue a drowning child I hear, forget that conversation. I can’t repeat what I heard. On to the next conversation, “Yes, that’s the one, it’s on Pines. They have to die for hummus.” Hum, I must interrupt; I yell two rows over, “To die for hummus? Where?” “Mazza” they yell back. I’m genuinely interested; I throw my voice through grunts, sounds of other i

By the time the sun was rising over the ficus hedges on the other side of the chain link fence surrounding the YMCA pool, the swim mates were at it again. Ellie forgot something, poking her naked toes out of the water in my direction, her raspy voice groaned, “I forgot my swim shoes.” Then sighed, “It will be OK though I am only here for an hour today.” Hans piped up, “What? Do you have another massage to go to?” “Silly man- No, I have a doctor’s appointment.” Hans was wearing a white ball cap, and dark mirrored glasses. All I could see was his big grin. “Ellie, tell Robyn about your last massage.” “You mean my only massage.” Bobbing up and down slowing down, pacing myself with Ellie so I could hear.“Tell me.” “Oh, my husband bought me a massage for my birthday. He thought it would be nice since I was sore from the water classes. I wasn’t too thrilled about it but he assured me that a woman was going to massage me. So, I scheduled the appointment at the Red Door Spa and I

"We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face... we must do that which we think we cannot." Eleanor Roosevelt

My youngest daughter is getting a tattoo of Athena’s owl. I did a little checking as per her request and Athena is the Greek goddess of Wisdom. If it were a Jeopardy question, I would have got the money on that one. That's about all I knew.  So, I did some Internet snooping.  According to hoaryredpoll in his blog The Night Jar, he states, “As well as the patron goddess of the city of Athens. If you look closely, you will find she always has an owl with her.” He continues, “Why the owl? 1) The light that reflects off their eyes in the dark which gave the appearance of an ‘inner light’ or Wisdom and 2) This is the most likely cause, a particular species of Owl was common on top of the Acropolis of Athens. Since that hilltop was dedicated to Athena, the Greeks took the fact that there were so many owls present as them being sacred to Athena. As a result the o wl and Athena have been linked and the o wl has come to represent Wisdom in many later cultures, heck right down to o wl

"Great minds discuss ideas, Average minds discuss events, Small minds discuss people." -Eleanor Roosevelt

A little over two weeks ago I joined a pool workout group that begins at 7 am and ends two hours later. I expected the typical group YMCA workout experience, with a few grunts and groans, no one overly chummy and no talking during class; but, the water class is completely the opposite. It's like being in a sitcom. It is hysterical. Imagine the instructor a size 6 woman, dark-haired, dark-eyed beauty, flexible as a yoga instructor, tight as a teen and as loud and colorful as a Mexican garden. Nothing gets by her. She must have been one of those kids who drove her parents crazy. She knows all the tricks. The swim mates range in age from 35 to 88, men and women. There are about 15 regulars. They never stop talking or as our instructor screams, "Are you knitting again? You were talking so much you did not hear the instructions and you are doing it all wrong!" For the new members she adds, "In my country, when the ladies get together and gossip, we call that knitting.&

Last night, it was a clear and I knew I was dreaming while I was dreaming. Nevertheless, I was struggling to speak French in a French market. There was an unusually plump woman behind large baskets of produce who seemed to be in charge of the place. The smells of everything green and growing filled my nasal cavity. All I wanted was a bundle of scallions and some tomatoes and there were none. "Bonjour" I said to the woman. Smiling she replied, "Bonjour". "What would you like?" She said this in French but I couldn’t remember how to say what I wanted. And now, I have no idea how to say it let alone write it. Sadly most of the French I learned in grade school, high school and college has left the brain. Back to the veggies, it is probably not important that I wanted scallions and tomatoes; but, it is important to note that I found it difficult to communicate what I wanted. Freud would be proud. So, I know what I want but I am in foreign territory trying to

A lot of people know my husband and I are health and life insurance agents, and that we own our Florida based business representing many insurance carriers. A lot of you have asked how the new laws will affect our business. The more important question is how are the new laws going to affect you? Because you are our client, friend or family, we want you to be aware of the following elements of the bill. Briefly, the Bill will: • Mandate that everyone must have insurance. • Result in more than 30 million additional people becoming insured. • Provide for subsidized coverage for people that can’t afford it and increase the number of people that will qualify for Medicaid. • Make cuts to Medicare Advantage Plans and change their payment formula. • Increase taxes and fees to many individual Americans and Corporations. • Make many changes to the way Insurance Companies do business from not allowing them to use pre-existing conditions to limiting their rates based on medical loss r

This week I attended a day long seminar in Boca and I didn’t learn anything new. It was an 8 hour reminder of what I know. Why did I stay? Hum. I always try to find the good in all things, especially when I spend my time and money on something that I expect to wow me so that’s why I stayed. I kept waiting with one eye on the door and one ear on the presenter hoping to learn something new. This event gets two thumbs down. I was impatient and bored with both the material and presenters. For those of you who love these people- good for you. I for one want my money and time back. I’m referring to Ester and Jerry Hicks. Ester Hicks channels a group of souls known as Abraham. Abraham speaks through Ester and imparts wisdom to the masses. At the tune of $195/ person at 400 people in the room, I’d say Ester was doing quite fine with the Abraham connection. Add in the sales from her books, CD’s and the taped event, I did some quick calculations and figured they grossed over $100K. I’m all abo

We all have a perspective, a view of the way our world works. Some minds view the glass half empty; those viewers tend to whine and complain blaming others or events for their failings or lack. We all know someone like this and try to avoid them. At least I do. Others believe life is a banquet, a long unending buffet. The glass half empty group look at these people with envy. Those attending the life banquet however seem to naturally fall into a “good life”. From their perspective, they get exactly what they believe they see, abundance. Fairly recently, scientists were debating over the nature of light and one group wanted to prove that it was made of particles (photons) and another group believed that light was a wave. Each group set out to prove that the other was wrong. One group of scientists did prove that light was the result of tiny particles. Then, an a amazing thing happened, the other group of scientists that set out to prove that light behaved like a wave, were also c

Write down what propelled you to make a decision to quit smoking. S= Set a stop date T = Tell family and friends your plan A = Anticipate and plan for the challenges you'll face while quitting R = Remove cigarettes and other tobacco products from your home, work and car. T = Talk to your doctor about getting help Most smokers seem more interested in why they started smoking as if this is the key to the answer, “Why do I continue to smoke.” It is not. Smoking is a habit. It’s a lethal one. Nicotine spreads its effect on the central nervous system upsetting the entire body system. Very Important: Before you quit, write down the times you smoke, where you are when you smoke, time of day, what is happening, and what you are feeling. This road map will help you in the first six months of your journey. Equally important is to have a doctors appointment scheduled within the first two days of non-smoking. He or she will not only help you, but also guide you in a future cou

This is from Daily Kabbalah and it's a metaphor worth sharing: "Imagine throwing a football with no intention of where you want it to go, or how fast. Even the best pro quarterbacks would fail with such a handicap. In fact, the best players prepare to throw a ball by first visualizing hitting the target. Where are your life targets? Today, see yourself hitting the mark in one of the desired areas in your life. "

By: June Chen, MD Tools: More Physical activity levels drop more quickly after the age of 45 years, particularly in men, according to a new study published in the October 26, 2009 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. The results of this study also showed that regular physical activity, maintaining a healthy body mass index, and not smoking were associated with better fitness levels and cardiovascular health. The U.S. population is aging and, unfortunately, becoming more overweight and less active. Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) declines with age and is influenced by lifestyle factors, such as the level of physical activity. Low CRF levels increase the risk of disease and interfere with the ability of older adults to function independently. Researchers from the University of Houston in Texas and their colleagues studied 3429 women and 16,889 men, aged 20 to 96 years. Study measurements included body mass index, self-reported aerobic physical activity, smoking habit

Every cigarette is doing you damage. Every time you inhale tobacco smoke condenses in your lungs.  Even a young heart can have sticky build up on the interior walls of the aorta.  This build up on your vital organ and easily cause a stroke. You can easily die.   Please stop trying to kill yourself. Stop smoking.

February 15th was just like any other day.  She woke up, smelled the rain in the unusually crisp Miami air and put her feet on the wood and started her day. Like I said, it wasn't a special day, it was the day before, Sunday, the 14th that was the magical day. While out on the usual two mile walk around her wooded neighborhood her ipod blasted, not a pop song but, a book,  "Be Happy".  The author, Robert Holden and his funny, inspiring British accent worked wonders and half way through her walk, she became utterly and uncontrollably inspired.  She was happy in this one life;but, she could happier.  Moving, exercising, listening to his motivation she was juiced! That evening she went to work on her 30 day plan.  1. Lose 20 lbs. 2. Generate new sales for the business. 3. Get clear on the book idea. 4. Save one thousand dollars.  The plan with each step was posted, each day she followed her tasks in each category some better than others.  She has 4 days left to reach h

The Prologue of "Eve" opens with "Belief is not always easy.  Even when you have seen and heard the thing you are supposed to believe in." If you liked the book, "The Red Tent," you will love "Eve", written by Elissa Elliott.  I've just started reading it; but, I'll finish it tonight.  It's a book that's hard to stop reading once you've started. The plot is full of action and Eve's story makes the reader ponder such issues as free will and their relationship with God.  The story of Eve is about her role as a wife, mother and a woman before and after her banishment from the garden of Eden.  - Must finish reading.

"So, I'm not gonna lie", I said, followed by, "I'm really hungry." I'd been talking on the phone with "O" my diet buddy. My other diet buddy, the one I live with had a lunch meeting today and the thought of him eating was simply too painful. Every time I let myself think about it I imagined him eating some big crunchy, salad bursting with flavorful dried cranberries, nuts, seeds, sprouts, carrots, eggs, cheese, and blackened ocean life, it make me so hungry that I felt queasy and jealous. You see I'm doing this two day fast followed by a 5 day meal replacement with protein shakes and one lunch and a few almonds each day. I started down this familiar path on Sunday, just five days ago. I must say, the program is working. I've really been cleaning my pipes and I lost seven pounds already. So, I can't lie, get it? I'm not full of crap anymore. I've had tons of energy as well. I've made it to the gym three times, rollerbla

Earlier on Facebook I posted "What's your word of the day?" Several people responded and the words varied and perhaps reflected the kind of day each was having. Threshold stood out and grateful too. Threshold because I like the way it sounds when you say the "shhh part of the word and how it ends in a "da" sound, as if it has a line that one needs to cross to get past it. I hadn't seen the word for awhile, I knew what it meant but I went to the Thesaurus for more and found, opening, beginning, brink, dawn, doorstep, doorway, edge, entrance, gate, point, verge, etc. It's a new year and I can relate to beginning, and edge. Which brings me to the next word. One respondent posted the word "grateful." When I read the post I sighed, "I should have thought of that." I need to remember to be grateful each day. Even if things are bad there is always a lot to be grateful for. Later in the day I went to the person's profile who posted g

Sometimes it is best to withhold the truth. Not because the truth is bad, it's just too lengthy to get into the whole truth. For instance, as most of you know my family and I just went on a holiday trip to Italy and Spain. When asked, "How was your trip?" I answered, "It was great! The weather was not great; but, the trip was wonderful." Not much fluff there, nor is there much information. This morning I was on Skype with my daughter pictured here. She told me that she had started a blog. Cool beans! I immediately went to her blog to check it out. The last post was a journal of our recent family trip and it was spot on, hysterical in hindsight anyway. Enough said, check out her blog at: http://www.alexwarenik.blogspot.com So, if you want the raw truth, and not the "oh it was great" story from moi, see what she has to say.

I’m the dog walker in my family. Buddha and I walk in the morning and in the afternoon on a route and we rarely deviate from our course. A funny thing happened today. This afternoon instead of going around our usual cull de sac,keeping on the sidewalk- we kept walking straight through a 6’ ficus hedge and popped out in another neighborhood. Buddha looked at me like I was Houdini and I had just walked through a green wall. The simple act of going through the bushes was nothing really;but, the look on Buddha’s face made it something fun. Jumping in front of me rearing back on his two hind legs, he was crazy. “Wow! You are amazing! How did you do that? Do it again!” I had to find another ficus hedge just to break through to the other side once again. Both of us giggling and smiling we walked the rest of the way home feeling like we had shared something special.