A few days before Christmas, one of my horses (Amber to be specific) found a beagle dog. More on that later. No owner came to claim the Beagle. Kiddo fell in love with “his” dog. I have too big of a heart to dump him at the shelter where an old arthritic, skinny dog would have been put to death (don’t anybody start dumping off critters- I have a generous heart for critters, but a skinny wallet). So, long story short… Gadget… as in Inspector Gadget, now has a home at Leaky Creek.
I take Gadget on a walk before he comes inside for the night. Tonight, his little Beagle sniffer was in overdrive and his tail wig-waggling with pure aromatic excitement. He couldn’t contain himself and trumpeted his excitement in the infamous Beagle bay. I smiled and glanced into the darkness. My light soon found the source of his euphoria.
RABBIT!!!
I kept my light tracking the reflection of the rabbit’s eye while meanwhile watching Gadget’s reaction. Gadget is snuffling in overdrive and his little tail flapping back and forth, like an out of control metronome. He zigs and zags and bays in hot pursuit of the rabbit.
He is SO excited that he never picks up his head. Never pauses. Never sees the rabbit.
A step removed and a good big taller than the beagle, I could easily see the big picture. My eyes easily followed the rabbit’s path and I could quickly see where the rabbit was headed. Meanwhile, Gadget was so absorbed in the moment that he didn’t see the big picture, in fact he failed to even see the rabbit!
The experience made me smile at brought up a few thoughts. I smiled to see Gadget so happy and excited. He’s come a long way from the skinny sad eyed Beagle that I found. Sometimes we all need to get lost in a moment, find something that brings us true happiness, bliss, and euphoria and momentarily lose ourselves. But in the grand scheme of things, it is easier to see the big picture when we are able to take a step back and pick our heads off of the ground.
Mary K. Smith
Rainbows & Mourning Doves 