Joy in the Small Things

monday-blogs-1I had an unexpected moment of joy over the weekend.

My spouse and I were walking down the street. Suddenly, I noticed a little dog carrying a ball in her mouth and walking the opposite direction from us.

I grinned and quietly pointed her out to my spouse.We often point out cute dogs to each other. Luckily, Toronto is full of people who love sharing their lives with four-legged friends.

Her little body was alert and happy from nose to tail. I can’t quite remember if her tail was wagging, but she looked proud and happy to be carrying her toy around by herself.

The human walking with her paused for a moment before leading her across the street.

Were they going to the park to play fetch? Quite possibly.

She was moving with twice as much anticipation and pep as you’d expect to see in such a small body. This wasn’t at all the gait of a dog who has already burned off a lot of energy and wanted a nap.

monday-blogs-4Imagining all of the fun her and her human were about to have made me grin. I could clearly picture them running around on the grass together as a few more autumn leaves floated to the ground.

Maybe she even paused to chase a few squirrels? I’ve seen a lot of city dogs chase them, but the squirrels always seem to stay two steps ahead of the game.

I imagine that her human laughed for a minute before calling his little friend back to play some more fetch. When they were both worn out, I’d like to think that they went home for a cozy family nap.

The bond between a person and their pet can be like that sometimes.

Picturing all of these details made me smile. It’s so interesting to try to guess what other people’s (and animal’s!) lives are like after you lose sight of them. Half of it is a creative exercise for me as a writer. You can learn a lot about plotting a scene or writing about an interaction between two characters by seeing how real humans and animals behave.

The other half of the reason why I do it is because it’s just plain fun.

What small things have brought you joy lately?

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