What you see is less about your vision and more about your willingness to look! 

About eighteen months ago my husband and I purchased a tri color, King Charles Cavalier puppy. We named her Torrey, a proper British name, and she has proceeded to teach us how to really… take a walk. 

We have discovered the significance of pausing during a walk to inhale, to look up, to look down, to stop and sniff, to truly take in our surroundings. It is amazing the simple pleasures she has taught us about experiencing the outdoors. 

We walk the paths at the park, but each walk offers it’s own special observations. In the spring as the trees begin to form leaves and blossoms open to release their fragrance its pleasant to enjoy the fragrances so delicate and sweet. 

The songs of the birds change during the summer. In the quiet, it is interesting to listen to the humming and buzzing of the bugs and insects. 

When Torrey stops to examine a flower or looks up into the trees, searching to find a squirrel that rushed past, it is a good time to pause and look around. To see the clouds and the sky and all the different colors surrounding us. 

Even on the rainy days, between the showers, the soil smells rich with struggling new growth and promise, the sky is gray/blue and the colors of the trees and plants are a deep intense green. 

Since we’ve had this little dog, she has encouraged us to not just take a walk, but to become a part of the experience. To look at that flower or tree, watch that bug, listen to that bird and embrace all the things we have been too busy to really see!

Thanks Torrey for taking us to the park, for slowing us down, for playing with us and for being a cheerful companion during a time when the world is racing to— they know not where. Thanks for giving us a reason to laugh, to play and to really SEE beyond what our eyes offer. 

It’s been a joy walking with you… thanks for taking us along. 

May your day land Jelly Side-Up.

Nelle