I want to live like Olly.  Thank you Olly for the spiritual reminders!

To play, to dare, to fail, without a worry or a care! As the announcer says, of carefree Olly, “He’s all over the place…and so he should be.” And so should you and I as well. Be all over the place in this life having the time of our lives in this great adventure called life!

Instead of growing old and crusty, grow young again.

“The idea is to die young as late as possible.”
Ashley Montagu

Perhaps it’s the way the announcer turns the phrase and laughs with it, but I love when he says of Olly’s tumble, “What a nose dive and he couldn’t care less.!”

To fail and to fail greatly and not worry about what people think. To know that life is simply one big experiment and it’s all learning. To fail with wild abandon. To not worry whether I am doing it right enough, good enough, perfect enough. “There is no learning without mistakes. There are no mistakes without learning.” And who cares about mistakes anyways?!  Run Olly, run – the adventure and joy of the course awaits!

And to not worry about the opinions or disapproval of others which reminds me of a wise pastor saying to me once, “In order to avoid criticism: Say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.”  Olly is being something.  

Olly goes the wrong way through the tunnel and the announcer says, “Wrong way through, oh well.. it doesn’t really matter does it?”  No, it doesn’t matter!  In fact it endears Olly to us even more – marching to the beat of his own drummer, being his own unique self. Seeing his delight, delights me.

And did you hear how the announcer joins him in his fun and catches the spirit of Olly and delights in it.  Did you also notice the owner who didn’t punish or yell at Olly but ran beside him and encouraged him on his way.  (Kind of like “paraclete” huh?!  The word used to describe the Holy Spirit – that comes alongside us on our journey.)  She, like God knows that eventually we’ll figure it out and everything will be OK even smiles and laughs with us in our escapades as well.

“He’s totally crazy as you can see.”
“He’s having a ball.”
“And loves life.”
Word’s I might like to have on my epitaph as a testimony to having lived well! Which reminds me of this quote also:

“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!”
– Hunter S. Thompson

If I had to give a commencement address I’d show them Olly – a tumbling Jack Russell reminding us how to live life.

Thanks for making me laugh Olly and than you for the spiritual reminders as well.

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