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Weather and time permitting, I let my dog, The Mighty Shmooie, choose the route we walk every morning. We have five basic routes and, with the exception of going into people’s yards, he gets to choose. His favorites are usually a mile to a mile and a half although, at age twelve and a half, I’ve noticed he tends to prefer the shorter walks more than he used to. There’s a two mile route but we rarely take that one anymore.

Even though Shmoo doesn’t have as much energy for longer walks at his age doesn’t mean he’s lost his sense of adventure. He used to run wildly through town looking for big dogs to play with but he’s given up on that. This summer, however, he’s started finding new ways of doing old walks. He’ll occasionally choose to take us down a different alley or street than we’ve used for the past twelve years.

Given his expected lifespan, Shmoo is now older than I am, at least according to how long I expect to be around. I, therefore, view his sudden decision to change his routes to be something from which I can learn. Yes, I assume every living creature can teach me something new.

I certainly don’t go running wildly through life anymore. I like getting some exercise but I’m not a fanatic about pushing myself to go to extremes. I do get into ruts though. I tend to do the same things day in and day out. I don’t go looking for new experiences. But, as Shmooie demonstrates, maybe I should.

Just because I’m older doesn’t mean I shouldn’t look to try something new. So far, in the past few months, I’ve started doing a few things differently. The changes have been good. Yes, there have been some disappointments, but the positives outweigh the negatives.

I had a road trip planned for this fall I was really looking forward to. Unfortunately, my expected travelling companion has abruptly opted out. My initial reaction was that I would simply forget about going but, taking a lesson from Shmoo, I have decided I will go anyway. Life is full of change and we can either avoid it or charge ahead even when it’s taken a disappointing turn. There’s no certainty that things won’t change again before I leave, or change somewhere along the way.

I had a conversation with my son recently and commented that I do tend to be more cautious these days. He laughed and said, “Well, you’ve had more things go wrong at your age and don’t want to have even more.” He was exactly right. I figure I’m getting close to collecting the full set of life mistakes but, as Shmoo would point out, I could also collect some new experiences, have some new sights and smells, walk down a different alleyway and see what’s there.

If we let it, life can get us down, but we don’t have to let it keep us that way.