Happy Dog

I work on the 8th floor of an office building, so I can look down onto a neighboring street that has some homes on it. While I was at work today making copies, I was staring out the window waiting on the machine. Down below a man had stepped out of his back door and a his dog - looked like a big Labrador retriever - was following him out to a little "out building".

The dog's tail was swatting back-and-forth, like the funnest thing in the world was walking to this little building. The man got to the building, unlocked the door, and went in. The dog stood back with his tail wagging and proceeded to circle the building, sniffing around the edges, making a full circle, and then coming back to look in the door that was left open. The dog stood there tail still wagging and finally walked in.

I was swapping out different pages that I was needing copies of, but the next time I looked up they were back out of the building. The man was walking through the yard picking up something. The dog was running around in the vicinity, sniffing here and there, finding things to pee on, running back to check in with the owner, and running off to somewhere else.

More copies. I look up again. The man is now digging around in a small little garden plot. This must've been huge fun to the dog who is there watching intently - tail still going crazy.

It struck me while I was making copies, not really wanting to be there - it struck me that this dog was having the time of his life just being a dog - just doing what dogs do. I'd never been envious of a dog, but I was today. And I wandered what I'd be doing if I just did whatever it is that people are supposed to do.

Later in the day as I was working my mind would wander and I'd check back to see what fun the dog was having, but I didn't see him anymore after that. Wherever he was I bet his tail was wagging.