It’s been a while since Bingley fell off the sofa with a somnambulistic thud, but I’m still worried about him!
He lives in the moment: a wonderful niche in time where’s there’s no past and no future, no thought of consequences and no planning ahead. For Bingley everything is simply now!
Sometimes I feel quite envious of his sheer unbridled immediacy; after all we’re always being advised to live for the moment and to make the most of today. But sometimes Bingley takes this advice too literally and gives absolutely no thought to what might happen next.
Labradors have a very high pain threshold; it’s one of the reasons why they make such great canine companions - they rarely complain about anything. But if you combine that stoicism with Bingley’s energy then you have a recipe for recklessness!
Bingley no longer falls off the sofa, but he’s forever banging into things when he’s dashing around. ‘Go get the ball, Bing’ is often followed by a thud as his head connects with the gate post, or the door jamb, or with one of the cupboard doors if we’re playing at home. Not that any of this stops him, he’s living for the moment and that particular moment involves only the ball: back he comes from his head thumping retrieval with an ‘I didn’t feel a thing’ look on his face.
But we don’t even have to be throwing things: I can’t tell you how many times he’s crashed into the baby gate as he dashes through to his room to get us one of his toys. Pad, pad, pad, *thud* (pause), pad, pad, pad, here’s a toy Rob, let’s play!
On this morning’s sudden and unexpected bum tuck, he crashed into the wall with such force that I thought he might bring down the house. But instead of stopping and saying ouch, I’d better not do that again, he simply jumped onto the sofa and started doing mid-air twists!
Live for the moment but with some thought about the consequences, is what I want to say to Bingley. But I doubt he’ll ever listen; for him the future means nothing and the past is gone. Who cares if a wall gets in the way? That particular moment is quickly replaced with the next, as he pushes the ball into my hand and waits for me to throw it back into the future.
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