I remember being a kid and how I loved to do somersaults. Isn’t there just something so magical about them? Head pressing into the soft grass—ready, set, go, as you begin to roll, your feet and legs flow up over your head— over and over you go, down the hill, lost in what feels like another dimension.
These days, somersaults don’t sit well with my stomach or my head, though my heart at times wishes once again for those sweet, warm and breezy somersault days.
Instead I now experience them in a new way. Life with dogs gives me the same feeling of rolling down a hill, my heart leaping with joy, and lost in a world that time does not seem to exist.
Watching Kylie fly through the snow, or the look on Gidget’s face as I leave out the door, as if to say, “Please don’t go.”
The wag of tails greeting me when I return home. Snowy nights sitting on the sofa, next to the crackling fire in the woodstove, Gidget’s head resting in my lap.
Sitting next to Kylie as she sits at the front door, gazing out into the neighborhood. Patting her head and feeling a warm gush of what can only be unconditional love that fills my heart like nothing else.
Seeing Gidget’s black eyes peaking out the top of her kennel at me as I place my feet on the floor each morning. Scooping her into my arms and smooching her on the side of her silky soft face.
Kylie greeting me with her still puppy dog eyes as I open the bedroom door. Hugging her gently around her big ole’ bear of a neck.
The drool hitting the floor from Kylie, and the impatient pitter-pat dance of Gidget’s tiny feet as they await their breakfast. Listening to the crunch, crunch, crunch as they eat their kibble.
Walks along the path that helps to assure me that everything in life is right. Kylie’s curious exploring nature often having me turning around, calling out her name, watching as her ears fly behind her, a smile spread wide across her face, and in a full out pony run to catch up.
Gidget’s tiny feet and lopsided get-along gait, trying to keep up with the pace of everything her nose wants to take in.
The content look on their faces as they nap away the day.
Tucking them in at night. Telling each how much I love them. Thanking them for being my friends.
Looking forward to the next day and doing it all again. These are my somersault moments of today.
