How Reggie got his name.

...The yet unnamed pup had entered our home, lives, family and our hearts that afternoon.

Once everyone was home from school and work, we had dinner and everyone was all abuzz with trying to figure out what to call this adorable white furry, fluffy, friendly little pup.  Being in a house with six people, it's always good to do it following a democratic process.... pick a name and vote.  Only thing is, we humans didn't really have a vote in his naming...you'll see.

We placed the pup on the opposite side of the living room with dad and asked the kids for their ideas to name the pup.  Fluffy! Furball! Snowy! Frosty! Champ! Snowflake! so we tried calling the pup using each suggestion and no response...pup stayed there kissing and jumping on daddy, smothering him with love.

I took a look at this pup, saw that he had big brown eyes and knew he would grow into a big white dog and immediately thought of my father-in-law.  He had the darkest brown eyes, was a real hellion in his day and everyone (outside of the family, jk) loved him.  So I said to hubby, I have an idea.  He reminds me of your dad and hubby laughed and said WHAT?  I explained the big brown eyes and said the last time I saw eyes like that was when your dad was alive.  Let me try this.  Hubby gave in.

So, with puppy kissing and jumping on dad, I said "Reggie, come here."  Pup stopped kissing and jumping, look in our direction, the floppy ears went up and the furball came galloping towards us! OMG, this dog reacted and came....OMG, I can't believe it.  We all started laughing!

I said that was just plain weird, let's try it again. So back to dad went the pup. Dad started playing with him and we tried Fluffy! Furball! Snowy! Frosty! Champ! Snowflake! no response.  Okay, here it goes.... "Reggie!"  Pup's ears went up, he turned and looked at us and came running over to us.  WOW! he did it again.

Hubby said, "That's funny.  I'm okay with that."  I said, "Wait a minute, I didn't name any of my boys after your dad and now you want to name a dog after your dad? Oh no you don't.  You better call your mom to make sure it's alright with her.  I don't want to offend her or him."

So we called Catherine and when we told her our story, I could hear her burst of laughter on the other end of the phone.  She said, "I think that's great!  Your dad loved animals and he'd be happy to have you name the pup after him."  And so we did....

Reggie's papers have him listed as Reginald Esman <-- my father-in-law's first and middle names, followed by our last name. 

That afternoon was the first of many days, weeks, months and years of pure joy as we welcomed him into our hearts and home.  He will live on forever in our hearts, just wish he could have done the same thing in our home.  Reggie, I loved you and miss you so much.  RIP our faithful companion for you did your job well.