Beth Touchette: Zoomies

Raising pets can teach us many things about the circle of life. Beth Touchette brings us this Perspective.

At age 59, I regularly feel tired and grumpy. Last year, our 12-year old golden retriever Apollo also showed his years as he rose stiffly from his dog bed only after he heard food being poured into his dish. After breakfast and a trip outside, he settled in for a morning nap. He had seizures during the last months of his life, and finally succumbed to liver cancer last August. When he occasionally looked directly at me with his soft brown eyes, his soul seemed exhausted.

This spring, we brought a two- month old puppy into our family. Magnolia’s soft fur melts around my fingers, and her paw pads are a deep black and spongy to the touch, since she has not walked on the Earth for very long.

She naps a lot, and when she wakes, she does a downward dog stretch, with far more flexibility that I manage in yoga class. She often opens her mouth simultaneously as she stretches, producing a whine that surprises both of us.

While out on her many potty breaks, she chases blowing leaves, pounces on insects, and immediately forgets that she did not catch either.

A neighbor who has a young child saw Magnolia zig zagging in the grass, pink tongue hanging out of her mouth, her legs moving faster than the top of her body. She seemed to be continually falling. The neighbor commented, “Your dog has the Zoomies.”

She went on to describe how her then toddler daughter would launch into a frenzy of activity just before she went to sleep. Magnolia’s behavior did remind me of the spasm of movement our son’s toy robot would go into, right before the batteries ran out.

I began to incorporate the term “Zoomies” into my regular vocabulary. My 86 year old father agreed that my new word perfectly described Magnolia’s boundless, pointless, and always joyous energy.

As Magnolia dashes around in circles, just touching me as she passes, I am grateful that life is always renewing itself, generating young vibrant beings that will be zooming around the planet long after I am gone.

With a Perspective, I am Beth Touchette.

Beth Touchette is a North Bay teacher.