The Contemplative Dog

I wish you could have seen our four-month-old pup this morning: he contemplates.

While other four-month-old puppies might pounce on falling leaves and leap at them in mid-air, our puppy merely sits and observes. He looks toward the sky to ponder, say, a bird flying overhead, and he does this unexcitedly, calmly, contemplatively. Leaves rain down and he watches, neither panting, barking nor moving, not even flinching. He sits for long periods like this, straight and tall, head turning slowly now and then to take in some new sight.

This morning I glanced out my bathroom window and saw the pup in a thoughtful pose, then he looked so far up that his neck was almost in an S position, if you can imagine that: his chest puffed out, his long neck stretched far back, and his muzzle pointed straight up in the air. Then I noticed my daughter perched on a plastic picnic table, headphones on, watching the dog.

I spent several minutes leaning against the window ledge contemplating my daughter, who sat contemplating the dog who contemplated his surroundings.

This is part of life as a contemplative mom.