For over a year, I have been singing (to the tune of “Here Comes Santa Claus…”), “Here comes Sesame, Here comes Sesame…” and tomorrow he will be here!
Little Sesame Seed
I’m a little nervous because he’s a male (no experience there), somewhat skittish (welcome to NYC!) and will be our third dog.
A friend always told me about children, “Don’t get outnumbered!” Tomorrow Bob and I officially will be outnumbered. But I look at those dog walkers in a cloud of 15 dogs and leashes and I tell myself, “This will be fine.”
Bob’s mom left a message saying, “Three dogs. Wow. I hope you know what you’re doing!” In fact, we don’t. Who knows what they’re doing before they actually do it?
Sesame in his trouble-making phase
A year ago, it freaked me out to walk a single dog in New York. I worried about C-Biscuit bolting out of her collar, about her getting bitten, about her inhaling rat poison. But it’s been fine…even though she sprained a toe, stole and ate a pound of dried chicken breast, and disemboweled her wool stingray. And, okay, recently she did throw up on my pillow.
This spring we got Picchu, an unexpected bonus dog. The first time I walked her with Biski, my legs got tangled in the leashes; Biski went this way and Picchu went that way. Picchu wanted to sniff every square inch of sidewalk; Biski got impatient. A few weeks later a woman commented, “Wow, your dogs must be twins. They look at the same thing at the same time, move together, and even go to the bathroom at the same time!” It’s true, they are often like synchronized swimmers – without the nose clips.
Sesame, all grown up and ready to come home!
And now Sesame. Among the comments from friends and family:
“Are you moving?”
“I don’t think you can fit three dogs in here.”
(two family members, same reaction:) “Three dogs? hahahahaha!”
(e-mail:) “OH MY GOD IT’S WHIPPET CENTRAL – STOP BUYING WHIPPETS!”
“Are you getting dogs instead of having kids?”
And from a whippet-owning friend (e-mail:) “It’s so clear that you want him. I’m sure that the dogs will get along, even if it requires a little adjustment. You’re both good parents so it’ll work.”
There is always a voice of reason in the madness of the crowd. And for us, there will always be whippets, too. Even three.
2 Comments
July 17, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Congrats! Three is a good number.
July 17, 2009 at 4:13 pm
Thanks, Ken!