Introducing…

Wait. Before I introduce you, we have to say goodbye first.

In December, as many of you know, we bought a lovely little black Shih-tzu/poodle cross whom we named Romeo. Sweetest little guy, outrageously outgoing, feisty, friendly, and cute, cute, cute, cute.

And then I stopped writing about him. Some of you wondered why, and some of you I told, privately. You see, after we’d had him a scant five weeks, our poor, precious Romeo was killed by a large dog in our local dog park. One of those crazy, random, unforeseeable things. Tragic, and so tragically unnecessary. I think that’s what I raged against the most: it simply didn’t need to happen. There was no build-up, there was no precursor, there was no warning. Just some momentary, random mis-firing in another dog’s brain, and pfft. Gone. One small comfort: His death was almost immediate; I doubt he suffered much.

Emma and I? We reeled, for weeks. It’s astonishing how big a piece of your heart they get, and so quickly.

The other dog’s owners were as good as humanly possible. They were devastated, of course. They came to the door after I’d returned from the vet without our little puff of fluff. They apologized, copiously and tearfully, they made such financial reparations as can be made. Later, when they discovered we were considering getting a new puppy, they sent a lovely card and a small toy.

But the weeks passed, and the healing happens. Resilience is born of living through tragedy, overcoming grief, learning that you’ll smile again. After a couple of months, Emma and I could look at the puppies at the pet store and on the Humane Society website. But she wasn’t ready yet. It has now been three months since Romeo died, and this weekend Emma and I went out to check out the puppies again.

Yesterday? Yesterday Emma was ready and the perfect puppy was there.

And now, now I would like to introduce you to this beautiful girl:

Her name is Daisy, she’s a spaniel mix: King Charles Cavalier and Cocker. She’s a little bit timid but very affectionate, and quite friendly when she’s had a little while to size things up.

And look! She’s already been helping her mummy study!

Happy Monday. We’re smiling. 🙂