I was so excited when mom told me my puppy is a blue merle female. That means she looks like me and everyone will know she is MY puppy.
“What are we going to name her?” I practically shouted in excitement.
For a few moments mom didn’t answer. She stared at me like she didn’t hear my question or she didn’t know the answer.
Then mom knelt down. She looked straight into my eyes and said, “We are going to name the puppy Journey.”
“After I told you we found your puppy, I had a dream,” mom said. “In the dream a voice insisted we name the puppy ‘Journey’ so whenever we speak her name we’ll be reminded we’re on a life journey together.”
“Wow, how fun is that!” I blurted. Then the questions tumbled out of me, a mixture of longing, confusion and delight.
“Will she be anything like Tess?” I asked. “Do you think Tess is coming back to us as Journey? I mean Tess died before Journey was born. Could Tess have made a deal with Journey to come back in Journey’s fur?”
Mom laughed so hard she fell on her butt. That was my signal to pounce on her and lick her face. Pretty soon we were rolling around on the rug playing the lick and tickle game. I slathered mom’s mouth with so much spit she finally called me off but not before I got in one last slurp.
It was good to laugh again and think about the future. The pain of the past will always be with us but with little Journey in our pack, we won’t have much time to feel sorry about things.
I wish I could have seen Journey when she was born, but I don’t think her mama would have let me very close. I may be prejudiced ’cause she’s my puppy, but I think she’s the cutest little bug of a mutt I ever saw.