A perfect fit.

I wanted to post this yesterday, but the day simply got away from me. Oh well, today is a new day.

It was one year (1/27/08) ago that our family became "complete". It was a rainy Sunday, an odd day to be sure, we'd had friends spend the night, and we'd had a very lazy morning. I'd been kicking around the idea of going to see some puppies that I knew were available, but I'd gone back and forth with the idea, because I knew that we didn't "need" another dog in the house. Jack and Jill were plenty to take care of, and with Harley coming to visit occasionally, sometimes for several weeks or months at a time, the house was always buzzing with some activity.

But as everyone can understand...sometimes it's not about "need", it's about "want", and I wanted to go see these puppies.

Once our friends headed out for home, it was a struggle to talk Hubby into going along with the idea of going out in the rain to see the puppies. He'd have rather stayed home and watched football. Bear had the rare Sunday off, and of course A.J. and Pickle were excited about going to "look" at the puppies. Just look. (Yeah, right) It was a rainy day, and we were tired of being couped up. "Just a little drive...just to go look..." With a twist of his arm, Hubby agreed, and into the car we scrambled.

The drive was a bit longer than we'd expected, with the rain coming down, and San Diego drivers being such experts on the wet roads. We finally arrived at the residence, (it was a tiny bit drier there than it had been on our drive) and saw a large yard with an outdoor pen and some of the most gorgeous puppies I'd ever seen. They were bigger than I'd thought they'd be, and at 11 weeks old they looked like polar bear cubs. Gorgeous, perfect, polar bear babies. It was love at first site, for all of us. Except Hubby. Of course he agreed that they were all gorgeous and perfect, but they were all boys. The only 3 left in the litter were male. Hubby wanted a girl puppy. You see, Jill is his baby. She lights up when he enters the room. They are surf buddies, they are snuggle buddies, he is her person. He wanted to get another girl. Needed to get another girl. A boy wouldn't do.

We stayed for about a half an hour, playing with the gorgeous rolly, polly white (and muddy) puppies. Each moment we were there, we fell more deeply in love. There was one that really stood out to us. The puppy with the lightest colored ears. A sweet snuggle muffin of a pup. We each held him, let him lick us, and kissed him back. But he was a boy.

We spoke to the breeder about the puppies, when she might expect to have another litter, how we would go about putting a deposit down on a female, etc., all the while, keeping our eye on the little sweetheart we'd all fallen for. The breeder was really anxious to sell these boys. After all, the older they got, the harder it would be to sell them. People that want puppies, want little, cute bundles of fluff. She told us she would cut the price -drastically. She knew that I was the organizer for the Golden Meetup group, knew that me having one of her puppies would be good for her reputation within the group, knew that her puppy would go to a very loving and safe home. She wanted us to take a puppy. Needed us to take a puppy. Hubby wanted a girl. We left, empty handed.

On the way home, when we were about half way, we decided to stop for lunch. Usually that meant a quick trip through the drive through and on our way we would go. Hubby pulled into a McD's. and parked.

Me: "Why'd you park?"

Hubby:"We should wash our hands..."

Me:"We washed our hands before we left the breeder."

Hubby:"We should talk about this puppy before we get all the way home."


Ah ha! A crack in the armour. He wanted to talk about the puppy. The boy puppy with the white ears. It was family discussion time. Hubby asked me if I wanted the puppy. "Yes" Was this the puppy I wanted? "Yes" He asked the kids if this was the puppy they wanted. A resounding "YES" of course. Then, he said, "We should go back and get the little guy." Apparently, he'd fallen in love from afar. He'd seen the sweet face, the lovable personality, the perfectness of the bundle of white (and muddy) fluff. I asked him if he was sure. He said yes, and that he didn't want to get all the way home only to have to turn back around and go back. He told me to call the breeder and tell her we were coming back to get the little white-eared baby. He didn't have to tell me twice.

We flew through our lunch and hopped back into the car. On the way, we tried to decide on a name. We tried to think of another "J" name to go along with Jack and Jill. Nothing came to mind. Then, out of the blue, Hubby stuck his pinky finger out to me. It was "pinky swear" time. He said, "3 kids, 3 dogs, no more of either, swear?" I stuck my pinky out, and we shook in agreement. We went back to names....we'd recently returned from a fantastic cruise all around the Hawaiian Islands with my entire family, in honor of my parent's 50th wedding anniversary. One of our favorite things to do as a family is to snorkel. Our favorite snorkel spot on the islands had been Kona. It seemed to fit, and sounded OK with "Jack and Jill." It worked....it stuck.

Before we knew it we were back at the breeder, had written her a check and were on the way home with our new little - freshly bathed- bundle of joy. Of course he puked the whole way home, but it didn't matter to us.

It's hard to believe it's been a whole year already. He is such a joy and has melded into our family seamlessly. It's hard to imagine the house without him in it. He is the perfect combination of rough and tumble, and sweet loving pup. He has the adventurous side that loves to explore and play and the loving side the cuddles up and snuggles and enjoys the closeness and warmth of sitting next to you on the couch, with his head resting peacefully on your knee. And yes, his face does light up when Hubby walks into the room.

He really is the perfect fit.

On the ride home.



His first meal at home. Such a sweet ball of fluff!



Exactly one year ago today.

Such a sweet big boy!