Listen + List = Bliss

Mama once told me that when you're too smart for your own good, life will be filled with too many "it's all fun and games until it's not" moments. That's like the time I ate Mama's chocolate and ended up at the Emergency Hospital just for pets.

Then, recently, I had two "it's all fun and games until it's not" moments. They made me start paying even more attention to the choices I was making. This made a big difference when it mattered most.

But back to before I started paying more attention to the consequences of all of my chosen actions. Just the other day, I was playing with my special friend Bluey—you know, just having a pawsome time—when Mama said, "Floof, it's time for a walk."

I immediately faced a huge dilemma. I love my walks and wanted to go, but I also wanted to stay and play with my special friend, Bluey. So, I thought to myself, just this "one" time, Mama wouldn't mind if I made her wait for just a few minutes, and we’d go for our walk a little later than planned.

But there was one big prawblem related to this: I'm not too good at understanding time, and it turned out that a few minutes were a few minutes too many.

The next thing I heard was, "Toffy, let's go!" But thinking that Mama had only been waiting a "few" minutes and not a few minutes too many, I chose to keep playing with my special friend Bluey. But then I heard the garage door open. Then nothing. Not even a peep. So, I knew Mama had taken off for “our” walk, no doubt, in somewhat of a huff. This shouldn't have been a surprise to me, because Mama always does what she says.

So, I quickly said goodbye to my special friend, Bluey, and ran down the street to catch up with my Mama, pretending we were right on track, just as she'd planned.

But then one of those "it's all fun and games until it's not" moments happened to me. Because Mama had understandably left in a huff, and me in a rush, my fancy blue water bottle, filled all the way to the top, had been left behind back at the house. And because we had left later than Mama had planned, it was getting much too hot for me to keep walking.

And when I got in a huff of my own, Mama cut our walk short, and we headed back home.

But if that was enough to teach me a lesson, I was so very wrong. A few days later, Mama and I had a different kind of mix-up—although Mama would say there was no mix-up at all.

I was in my Zen Den enjoying the best afternoon snooze when I heard Mama say, "Floof, we're going to Trader Joe's to stock up on food for me and snacks for your stash. You'll need them tomorrow for your day at the fun house with your best friend Luca. What do you want? I'll add it to my list." But would you want to check a snack stash and make a boring list if you were having the best nap ever? No, I'm sure you wouldn't, and neither did I. So, I kept on snoozing, and when Mama asked again what she should add to her list, I told her my list was already in my head, and I didn't need to put it on her list too. I could tell right away from the look on my Mama's face that she definitely knew something I didn't. But I didn't have the pawtience to give it any attention. I just wanted to do what we had to, so I could get back to my Zen Den and continue with my snooze.

We jumped in the car and off we went—Trader Joe's bound for our big grocery and snack stash shop.

As soon as we walked into the store, Mama whipped out her iPhone, which had her big list, and started shopping for everything on it.

I, on the other hand, got so excited and distracted by all the new foods and snacks to sniff out that I was randomly walking from aisle to aisle, forgetting that I was supposed to be shopping for.  

By the time I was ready to choose what I wanted, my brain was overwhelmed by all the different options—it shut down completely, as if it had never been a part of my head. So, my list wouldn't pop up, and I started to panic, and everything in front of me became one big blur.

And then, to add even more pressure to the stressful situation I found myself in, and before I could even try to get my brain to wake up, I heard Mama say, "Floof, I'm ready to go. What have you sniffed out to add to your precious snack stash?" But my head was still spinning! I couldn't believe she was finished so fast. I’m pretty sure it was because she had her list on her iPhone instead of in her head. And me? I had nothing. Not even one single snack because the list in my head disappeared when my brain decided to shut itself down.  But there was nothing I could do to change that now, and I didn't want to tell Mama and get her into a huff. So I said there wasn’t anything that I sniffed out that I really wanted. And right now, you might be wondering why I wasn’t more upset that my snack stash would be empty, with not even one treat for me to eat. That was because I knew my Mama had a backup snack stash that was always well-stocked. It would cover me for my all-day outing and the rest of the week.

The next morning, I woke up much earlier than usual so I wouldn't get left behind like had happened before. Mama had already brown-bagged my lunch, and since I knew better than to question my Mama, who’s almost always right, I didn't bother checking what she’d given me for lunch and what snacks she’d chosen.

But then, during the entire drive to the fun house that day, I had a strong feeling that something wasn't right. But who had time to worry about that when your best friend, Luca, was ready and waiting for us to play. Paws down, I know you can guess what happened a few hours later – yes, another "it's all fun and games until it’s not” moment.  And this was a bad one because my snacks were involved. When Luca and I were ready for a break, we went to his Mama so she could give us our snacks. Luca's were already set out for him, but the minute his Mama opened my brown-bagged lunch, I knew without one doubt that something had gone horribly wrong.

"Toffy," she said, "you don't seem to have any snacks here today!"

OMP! Remember, that means Oh My Paw, like OMG.

This couldn't be happening. How could my Mama, who was supposed to be the best in the whole entire world, send me out for the day, with not even one snack when I knew she had plenty to share from her back-up snack stash?

And even though I knew this was all my fault, I wasn't just in a terrible huff; I was very mad and overly sad.

Luca and his Mama could see I was about to cry, so they both sat down beside me to find out what had happened and why.

"Toffy,” his Mama said, "How come you don't have any snacks in your brown-bagged lunch for today?"

I told them everything that had happened the day before at the Trader Joe’s store. And by the look on their faces, I could tell it was all starting to make sense—maybe to them, but not to me, because I still couldn't believe how mean my Mama had been. “Toffy, what did you learn from your Trader Joe’s outing and not having any snacks in your brown-bagged lunch for today?” I said that I learned to always listen to my very smart Mama and that a list on your iPhone is better than a list in your head. But I also made sure to tell Luca's Mama that I still couldn’t understand why my Mama had been so mean, and that was becoming even more upsetting than having no snacks.

Luca and his Mama each gave me a big hug and a kiss. I felt a little better until my tummy got itself into a huff because it also wanted a snack, which then put me in a bigger huff than I  was already in. Then Luca's Mama said she was going to call my Mama to see if they could figure out a fair solution for everyone. I wasn’t so sure that was a good idea because of OMP—what if this "it's all fun and games until it’s not" situation got even worse? But Luca's Mama came back from speaking to my Mama, she said that she told my Mama the impawtant lessons I'd learned. They all agreed, Luca included, that just this once, Luca could share his snack stash with me.

Later that day, when Mama picked me up from the fun house, she could see I was still in a ginormous huff. But when she explained why she needed me to learn this big and hard lesson, and how it was also not fun for her to do, I remembered how much my Mama loved me, and that I did, in fact, have the very best mama in the whole entire world. “Floof,” she had said, “I don’t want your life to be filled with too many ‘it’s all fun and games until it’s not’ moments,” and that’s why I had to do what I did.

Now, let’s fast-forward to a few weeks later, when it was time for our annual summer seaside vacation, and when all of my "it's all fun and games until it’s not” moments finally paid off.

I knew very well by then that now means NOW. So, when Mama said it was time to go to the beach, I was ready in a snap and waiting by the car so I never got left behind, not even once.

And I definitely knew how terrible it felt when my snack stash had no treats left for me to eat. So, I always made sure to give Mama my list well in advance so she had enough time to get everything on it. But I’d also grown a lot smarter than just to give her a list. So when Mama started packing our bags for our first day on the beach, instead of taking a nap, I put all four of my paws on the floor right beside her, to make sure nothing was missed on either of our lists.

We had the coolest, blue beach tent and a blue sand-free towel—yes, that's really a thing. A trendy backpack that was also a fridge. That's what Mama was going to fill with plenty of water, an awesome-tasting picnic, and most impawtantly, a huge snack stash that included all my favorite treats.

There were just two prawblems that I immediately noticed as Mama organized all of our things for the first day of our summer seaside vacation on the beach. Number 1: There was only ONE blue beach chair when there should have been two. But I didn’t want to make Mama feel bad that she’d made a mistake, so I decided then and there that I’d share my blue beach chair with Mama whenever she wanted.

And Number 2: We really did seem to have way too many things for just a few hours on the beach, and only the two of us. But I knew better than to try to be smarter than my very clever Mama and tell her there was another mistake that she might have made. So I kept these thoughts inside my head, and it was just as well. It turned out that we weren't staying on the beach for just a few hours, but instead we were staying for the entire day, from early in the morning until the sun decided it was time to set. And guess what: we didn’t get too hot, and we had plenty to drink and delicious food to keep our tummies full. So no one got upset and in a huff, or felt the need to leave in a rush when we could still have loads more fun. Our first day on the beach was absolutely pawfect, and it WAS “all fun and games,” without any “until it’s not” moments, not even one.

Why? You guessed it. I listened to my Mama. I always gave her my list instead of trying to keep it in my unreliable head, which meant our summer seaside vacation was absolute bliss!

What about YOU? What’s been an impawtant “it's all fun and games until it's not" moment that you’ve had to learn? I’d love to hear what happened and how you overcame it to make everything right.

Toffy xoxo

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