In their tenderness of age and sweet vulnerability, their adventurous curiosity on introduction to life and the world around them, the young of any species, but most particularly the warm-blooded mammals of the world are viscerally appealing. They capture our attention, and awaken in us our own memories of the mysteries of life unfolding before us. They arrest our notice in their exuberant tentativeness. And their raw immaturity presented as bundles of boundless energy and physical perfection in miniature form, endear them to us as few other sights can do.

From memories evoked of our grandchildren when they were young and dependent, yet spurning the confines and restraints placed upon their early years of adventure and curiosity to spare them from the potential harm their curiosity may provoke, leading them to misadventure, to raising small domestic animals of another species entirely, accustomed through millennia of close companionship with humankind, we live in communion with new life reminding us through our own approach to end-of-life how precious existence and awareness and the life of the mind is to us for the finite period we may enjoy it.

Lately, on our daily perambulations through our nearby forested ravine, we have seen increasing numbers of very young dogs accompanying people whose children have grown to maturity, and who have adapted to the presence of small creatures whom they plan to raise to maturity, for company, and for that almost universal need of people to have close to them a companion to share life with.

The latest was several Australian shepherds accompanying a middle-aged woman, the dogs shy and withdrawn, though curious and good-natured. One, both females, was six months of age, the other a mere nine weeks. Its minuscule presence was heart-rending in its inner conflict between the endless attraction of curiosity and fear of the unknown.

Observing those young creatures at the dawn of their life-span is a perpetual lesson in the fleeting yet pleasurable and priceless quality of life.