The Bonnie Slam

He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy
Job 8:21

This picture is enough to restore your mouth with laughter, but there is more, believe me. Wow, eighteen years ago, baby Stephen---just a few weeks "post slap" on the fanny, Bonnie---our first Golden, and me, Mr. Chicken Legs.

Bonnie was by far our most stubborn retriever. She insisted on leading the pack on walks and would pull the leash until her tongue turned blue. Nothing would make her heel. It is funny the things you remember over the years, the inside jokes that couples share. On one walk, Bonnie spied a squirrel and took off, until she got to the end of the leash. What happened next can only be compared to the fate that awaited Barnyard Dawg in the Foghorn Leghorn cartoons when he ran out of rope. The flip in the air, with the subsequent flop on her butt was forever coined ‘the Bonnie Slam’. Any dog since who can perform this graceful move will get a rating from Annie and me, but none can top that first Bonnie Slam. It was one of those moments when you looked at your wife, you knew that she had her hand covering her nose and tears coming from her eyes in laughter.

Stephen loved this Baby Jogger. Bonnie got to the point that I simply had to tie her to it and let her pull us like a Conestoga wagon. Another sight that I am sure produced chuckles in the neighborhood, but we didn’t care. I'd like to think that this activity started Stephen’s love for athletics and exercise. Annie and I used to run road races together, trading out the pushing duties.

So now, I am teaching our new pup ‘the ropes’. She loves walking beside Belle, holding the lead in her mouth as she trots.

“You gotta go on a walk with us and see how good Millie is doing!” I pleaded with Annie. (She is usually the one pleading with me to get out and get some exercise now. Still the avid runner, she logs 5 miles a day.)

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As someone who is always trying to jury-rig things, I found a large carabiner and hooked the two leashes to it. How proud I was of my invention, everything seemed to check out for a few walks and I was ready to unveil Millie’s progress on the world.

But the world is still new to Millie. I noticed a few weeks ago how cars wizzing by startled her, but within a few days, she ignored them. Oh, but a new challenge…a large Scag mower was on the horizon…Millie immediately backed up, straight between my legs. I lost the 'graceful' quick-pace of my gait and turned into a waddling duck….Belle, unfazed by the mower, continued forward at full stride. By this time, Millie was behind me and her leash was straddling the 'stride' of my sweats. I am holding the caribiner, with leashes going in opposite directions, waddling like a duck and I hear a snort.

Now because I have lived with this woman for over thirty years now, I didn’t have to turn around to see what she was doing, but I did. Hand to the nose, tears in her eyes, laughing. We have not named this move yet, but I am sure she will come up with something as creative as the Bonnie Slam.

The thing is, I didn’t mind her laughing at me one bit. In fact, it did my heart good. Stress of work and home sometimes trumps laughter and it was nice to see her let loose a good one. I just shook my head and feigned disgust with my new pupil.

I am convinced that laughter is good medicine. I have used the proverb “A merry heart doeth good like medicine” (Prov 17:22) many times in the past on my blog and I repeat it again for good measure.

The creator of Beetle Bailey, Mort Walker, once said: “Laughter is the brush that sweeps away the cobwebs of the heart.”
I read the comic strip every day, something I have done since I was a kid. I believe the man’s quote is just another way of stating the words I have highlighted in red.

God bless, and be sure to share a laugh with family and friends over the holidays!

Mark

Prov 17:22