Today, Marty thought it might make our little, old Jack Russell Terrier, Chucky (who is 14 in dog years and about 98 in people years), happy to play a little fetch in the back yard. He hasn’t played fetch/ball over the past few years because he’s getting old and our other pooch is too territorial to do it when she’s around.
Chucky was always a world-class fetcher. He would go fetch a ball a solid block away and fly back to you with it, lickety-split, drop it at your feet, tail wagging and grinning ear to ear until you threw it again. He would play fetch perfectly (never had to be reminded to “drop it” or “bring it” all the way to you – the perfect fetch and return every single time) until your arm just couldn’t throw the ball any more. He could play soccer with a basketball like Pele and was the most athletic little dog I’ve ever known. He never has cared about working for treats. He worked for approval only. He is a gentleman, a loyal companion and the best little pleaser ever!
Now, Chucky is half blind and mostly deaf and has major gum/teeth issues, but he’s still engaged and happy and eager to please. He could only see the ball if we threw it to his good eye side, he couldn’t hear it when it bounced, and when he ran to it he could no longer pick it up in his teeth to bring it back – but he nosed it around and looked to us with that happy glint in his eye (well, his good one!). At first it seemed really sad, but Marty reminded me – and I think he’s absolutely right – that it seemed that Chucky was just so happy to be engaged in a game with us that he seemed really happy.
Chucky reminded me today that you may not always have control of all the things in your life and you may not be able to do or have all the things you once had, but you can still be happy just to be “in the game”.
If I make it to 98, I hope no one tests my ability to perform physically as though I were 23 – but I hope in my own way I can be as engaged and as happy and grateful as my little Chucky.
Evolution Happens . . . 