To Boldy Go

We heard a loud low rumble tonight and I had to look around the house to make sure everything was alright. Kirsten said it was the space shuttle landing at Cape Canaveral. She started explaining what that meant, but I was way ahead of her. Dogs have always been ahead of people in space travel. Every puppy old enough to bite his brother's tail knows that a dog was the first living thing to launch into space. Many a brave canine orbited the Earth before any people made it up that way. If you ask an eight week old what they'd like to do when they grow up space exploration is one of the most common answers, especially from the spunky ones. Lately my running and jumping restrictions have brought all my puppy dreams of being an astronaut back to me. A good romp on the moon would be just the thing for me right now, and I'm just certain the folks on the International Space Station need someone to play fetch with. I've been working out all the zero gravity modifications in my head, and I know I'd do a good job at that. The other morning I woke up from one of these dreams as sure as a juicy bone that it had come true somehow. I grabbed the first ball I could find and told Kirsten to give it a throw. She threw it like a pitcher with the bases loaded and I went leaping and bounding after it. I was still pretty tired at the time but I remember quite well that that's what happened. Kirsten suggested to me that it may have been more of a gentle toss followed by a rather light scamper, but she's always so conservative with her stories. When one has put in so much work to master walking on tile and hopping up single small steps one may, I admit, put a little too much emphasis on further improvements, but one is entitled to that. When I scamper I'm scampering on the moon because I know what it's like to work much harder for much less movement. When I'm ready—when my bones are healed and my muscles are stronger—well, I just hope you're ready for Rocket Ship Fern when that day comes. I'll have some blasting off to do when it's time.