The other day I forced myself to go back to the gym and resume my weight machine routine that has been completely forgotten for far too long. Anyone who has done this knows what this means: I am still completely sore and miserable two days later.
Last night I decided to try out my husband’s foam roller to try to get over the pain a bit faster. If you are not familiar with the foam roller, it is just as it sounds: a large round piece of foam that you roll your muscles on to get rid of the soreness.
Because the muscles really plaguing me are basically every muscle I have on my arms and shoulders, front and back, I decided that the best way to roll them was to lay on my stomach and put the roller under my arms and move back and forth on top of the foam like a turtle trying to make it over a log. Sorry, I am not showing photos of this…I’m open to sharing my life but maybe not that open, as I am not particularly graceful!
Of course all dog owners can predict what happened the moment the dogs noticed that I was on the ground: Jackson and Tinkerbell came running to investigate, which I like to translate into English as “Mommy’s doing something fun!!!!” Jackson, who is much more dignified and reserved, sauntered over with a wagging tail and sniffed me from head to toe before laying down a foot away and watching me from the corner of his eye.
Tinkerbell, however, is our crazy girl, and she flung herself to the ground in front of me, licking my entire face while her tail wagged furiously and she wiggled in joy. “Tinkerbell, stop!” I exclaimed while laughing hysterically, unable to quickly escape the full facial cleansing because of my position and the pain in my muscles. My exclamations and laughter only made her more excited to be on the floor with me.
My husband, instead of saving me from massive amounts of Labrador drool, added to the situation, “Mommy’s on the floor, you better get her!” he said as she stood up in a play stance and started to nibble my ear. “Tink, NO!” I exclaimed and she straddled my back and grabbed the hair tie out of my hair and pulled it off, her tail wagging so hard that I am surprised it remained attached to her body. With the hair tie in her mouth, she stomped her paw into my spine as she pushed off of me to run into the other room with her bounty.
“Come here, you crazy beast” I called as I struggled to get up to follow her into the other room. She was halfway under the coffee table, her mouth clamped down and a suspicious look in her face. “Drop it!” I commanded as she avoided eye contact. “Tinkerbell, drop it!” I told her again, my tone of voice deeper.
I held back laughter as she opened her mouth and spit out the hair tie.
“Good girl, good girl,” I told her as I petted her head and reached down to grab the slobbery elastic from the floor. As I went back into the family room she trotted along happily next to me, looking up as if to say, “Ok, Mom, what are we doing next for fun?”