This absolutely proves that my husband and I have gone crazy, but I'm going to tell you anyway: we got a puppy. He's impossibly cute and I'm pretty sure he thinks I'm the greatest person in the world, but don't tell Molly that. Or Michael. Because even though he tries to act all tough and nonchalant about it, the dog is quickly becoming his best friend. I can tell because Michael uses a baby voice to talk to him and always wants to take him along for car rides, which is (coincidentally, of course) the same way we started dating.
Before you start feeling sorry for us because we're so obsessed with this four-legged ball of fur, hear me out. This is no ordinary puppy. He had the miraculous power of melting our hearts even when we had sworn we'd never adopt another pet (déjà vu). It had something to do with his watery little puppy eyes and the way he pees a little-okay, a lot--when he sees you. No one else in the world gets that excited to see me, so naturally, I'm kind of flattered. He also has
My husband and I aren't the best at naming things or animals. Right now, we have two bizarre cats that had to be named by our daughter, age three, when we choked at the last minute and failed to give them good names. She named them Huckle Cat and Sneezy. Not bad names, really. If you think about it, they sound like the names of a highly entertaining cartoon cat duo. So good job, Molly, and thanks for helping Mom and Dad out there. We also have six fish that don't even have names. In our defense, they all look eerily similar and we aren't sure how to tell the genders apart.
Anyway.
That's not the case with our new puppy, who is a sweet boy we named Bowie. It's a little play on words, which shows how truly dorky we are. Not only does he share a name with David Bowie and the Bowie knife, which is enough to make any dog or person happy, but Bowie is also the way “boy” is pronounced when you say it with a heavy country accent. And we do, because it's so fun. Admit it, you just said it out loud. I know I did. It's the real reason we gave him the name Bowie--all in the name of humor. Sort of like my mom and dad, who named me Debra at the last minute (probably) so they could get a laugh every time I was the only Debra in class, or the entire school, not counting the teachers. Ah, memories.
Bowie's a great addition to our family. He seems to like us so far, and, judging from the fact that he uses the bathroom in our direct presence, he's very comfortable with us. Even though we voluntarily added more responsibility to our plates by bringing him home, I don't think we're really insane. Naive, maybe. Strange, for sure. In any case, we're happy. All of us-Me, Michael, Molly, Huckle, Sneezy, Bowie, and those poor, nameless fish.
Lebanon native Debra Carpenter is a novice mother, wife, and college student. She writes about the parts of parenthood you didn't expect when you were expecting.
Email her at interruptedmom@gmail.com and visit the website at motherinterrupted.com