Puppy Obsession

Back when I worked part-time at State Farm, I used to spend my ‘downtime’ browsing pictures of puppies for sale. I could spend hours (of course without my boss’ knowledge) looking at all of the adorable puppies for sale. I spent months scrolling through the different sites, with hundreds of furry little faces peering out at me begging to be taken home.

I bugged my boyfriend, now husband, incessantly about my dire need for a dog in my life. But he insisted that neither of us were in a position to take care of a puppy at that time. And, as usual, he was right. I lived in a tiny 200 square foot studio apartment with no yard. He shared a two story house that had a minimal yard with 2 other recent college grads and a golden retriever- it hardly needed another creature to add to the mess.

Per usual, I ignored his practical advice and begged for a puppy (and a ring) every Christmas. Begging might be a bit too extreme; rather, I implored for those items. And each Christmas morning, much to my disappoint and surprise, they never came.

The ring actually came first on a beautiful August evening in San Diego. After that, I was able to check the ring off the next year’s Christmas list and focus my efforts on adopting a puppy. That coming Christmas, I made sure to write PUPPY three times at the top of my list. I reasoned that it was my year to make it happen- the ring had finally come so the puppy was sure to follow.

Once again my fiancé (no longer boyfriend, but not yet husband) reasoned that a puppy was impractical. He was applying to grad schools all over the country and there was no way to guarantee we would end up in San Diego, let alone live in a pet friendly place.

Reluctantly I abandoned the argument for a couple of months. I was in the middle of finishing up my senior year in college and planning the wedding of my dreams. I was too busy disagreeing with him about wedding colors and menu choices to even mention what type of dog I wanted.

But that doesn’t mean I had stopped dreaming about my future puppy.

Whenever I was frustrated with writing a paper, or sick of looking at different wedding favors I would find myself searching for puppies, or better yet- my puppy. I reassured myself that one day, when all of the craziness of wedding planning and moving across the country was over I would get a cuddly little puppy to call my own.

I actually had a name picked out before I even decided the type of breed I wanted, let alone actually adopted my puppy. I knew I wanted a girl- boy dogs can be a handful with the need to mark their territory everywhere. I also knew that we were headed to the cold, freezing, snowy and landlocked Mid-West so Scott could attend grad school at the University of Michigan. With those two things in mind, I decided I wanted her name to remind me of the ocean- soft sand, sunny skies and beautiful waves- so I picked Waimea. It is one of my most favorite beaches in Hawaii.

After my years of waiting, the day we finally decided to buy a puppy was upon me much faster than I expected. And much to my surprise, my puppy didn’t come from one of the thousands of websites I had spent countless hours perusing. She came from a lovely breeder where I was given the opportunity to hand-pick her myself.

She came home with us when she was 7 weeks old and has filled our lives with joy and happiness since then! Of course we have our ups and downs- as a puppy she had an affinity for going #2 on my most favorite rug because it slightly resembles grass. And now, as an overgrown puppy she enjoys chewing magazines, paper and the blinds in my kitchen. But I wouldn’t trade her for anything in the world.

She is the bright spot in my day when everything else in the world is dull and gray.