It's Hard to Be Humble

It's hard to believe I've been in my 'forever home' for as long as I was with my 'birth family.' Yep, I'm 12 weeks old today, and (YIKES!) the things I've experienced during this time in my life! My accomplishments are many. Guess you could say I'm coming into "my own." For me, feeling comfortable in my own skin is what it's all about! And I'm pretty comfortable in it, though there's a lot of slack still beneath my outer layer of fur! My family calls me their Big Boy, and my Mom seemed shocked when I weighed in at 25.6 lbs yesterday at Doc Webster's clinic! (Got my second round of puppy shots.) She and Lauren had a bet on what my weight would be! (Looks like Mom will have to pay up!)

My legs are longer now, and my feet keep getting bigger! (Mom says models tend to be tall & have big feet, so guess I'm becoming one of the 'good looking ones!' ...My Mom is humming Carly Simon's old hit, "You're so Vain" in the background, as though I don't know what she's implying!) Actually, it's hard to be humble when you get the reactions that I do upon first meetings!  My Mom even saved the original comments emailed after she sent my first pics to friends:

• "Oh...my...gosh!!!!!!! The cutest pup EVER!"  ...Jennifer McKay
• "He is SO CUTE!!!!!"  ...Alma Voorhies
• "OMG he's so stinking cute. You can't help but want to cuddle w/him."   ...Mom's Court partner (from East Texas, can you tell??!), Sabrina Bentley
• "wow he is adorable!!"   ...Carla Tijerina
• "OMG - He is gorgeous! I think he would make a fine addition to MY family, when can I pick him up??"  ...Lucia Urrutia  [Ahhh, NEVER!!  You already have a golden to love!!]
• "He is so cute. What type of dog is he?"  ...Cathy Bertoncini  [The BEST kind!]
• "Adorable!!!!! I'm in love!" ...Colette Nelson [No relation to Willie]
• "He is beautiful. Congratulations on being a new mom!!!"  ...Ruth Radock
• "Ohoooooo! So Sweet!!!!! He's just so cute; I'm going to save your email so when I feel frazzled I can take a minute to look at someone cute and cuddly, LOL!"  ...Cathy Anderson (Mom's co-worker who had assisted her on her 'puppy search')
• "Awww my new nephew! Congratulations to you both!!!! He's adorable!!!!!"  ...Louise Coyle (Auntie)
• "Thanks for sharing your obvious joy!...great story. [how they found me] made me smile. love his name, too."  ...Carole Youngpeter

And yes, there were other emails, too, which we still smile about:

• "What a cute new member of the family!!!! Congrats!!!!! What's his name????"  ...Teresa Garza "T-Bird"  [followed by a pink face when she realized the subject line said, "Meet Wrangler!"]
• "AND - He looks just LIKE you! I noticed the family resemblance right away. So naturally he is just DARLIN'...But what will you actually CALL him? People always make puppy names end in 'Y' or 'EE'...It's not really a RULE --- more like a custom --- Wrangee? ...but you and Wrangler can march to your own drummer. Wrangler is cute enough"  ...Joe Tauer  [Paw Note:  After Mom told him she had no plans for a nick name, she proceeded to call me Chunky Monkey, Ragin' Cajun & a few times when she was tired, Wagner! So she doesn't seem to mind when Joe asks her, 'How is Wagon Wheel doing?' She just smiles with the love of a proud Mom!]

Then Kyle Michaels wrote, "GAHHHH!!!! He's totally adorable!!! Congrats! =) I want to meet him soon!" When Lauren brought me to my Mom's workplace [the Adult Probation office; I came in the back door - don't have a badge yet, but didn't feel it was professional to come through the front lobby & be carried through the metal detector], Kyle went wild!! She took me from Lauren's arms and went door to door showing me off! She even offered to give me lessons (she's also a dog trainer, among her many skills), and took pictures with her camera & put one on her computer as the background! After I'd left, she sent this to my Mom: "Thanks for letting me have some puppy snuggles ;-) He's pretty fabulous!" [If pups can have godmothers, I want mine to be Kayla!]

I won't forget Krista; she came out to the house to be the first friend to actually MEET me! (She and my Mom are 'twins separated by years' but I still don't know what that means!) I could tell she knew a lot about pups; I loved her right away! And Beth even brought her mother's friend, Marge, over to see me when she visited from RI! And while I may not be the only canine to have received a personal email, I felt VERY SPECIAL when this was sent to me:

 

 

Feb 20, 2013

Dear Wrangler, You are quite a prodigious writer! I felt as if I was there with you - you describe things so beautifully. Your Mom and Dad are quite extraordinary! I saw how they took care of and loved Bandana and Madi. I used to sneak them cookies when Mom and Dad weren't looking! When we meet, I hope you'll like me. I'll sneak you cookies, too! I'm looking forward to reading more of your blogs. They help me remember my visits to your house. Can't wait to meet you! Give my love to Mom and Dad, and, of course, love to you! Auntie Lou     Humble?  Maybe not.  Humility may be over-rated. But prodigious? Perhaps. You probably didn't know, but my Mom considered naming me Emerson (Right!) just because Ralph Waldo Emerson is one of her favorite writers. (Oh, I can hear it now! "The dog just got loose!!  Where is he? Where's Waldo?") She said she grew up in New England reading his poetry in Donat Paquet's class. She agrees with Emerson's philosophy on life and loves to quote him.

So I thought I'd end this post with a quote to make her proud. (And to thank her for not naming me Emerson!!)  I was going to share a quote like, "Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." But it may mean something totally different to her... Or "The age of a woman doesn't mean a thing. The best tunes are played on the oldest fiddles." I thought better of that one too. [Diplomatic? Definitely!]  Instead I'll close with what has become my mantra: "Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year."  Sorta makes you excited about what tomorrow has in store, doesn't it??!!