We Almost Called Him Uncle

Tomorrow Scholar Lee "Scuba" Salley turns 3. Right now, he's curled up on Witt's stool, being a baby. I remember the first time we saw his litter--they were all so cute and dark brown. The tiny dogs just walked around each other and stepped in their pee and poo. They each had a different colored collar. I told Witt that first time that we saw them that we couldn't get one. We had just moved in, barely married a few weeks.

We drove past the house on Kansas Avenue each day for a few weeks, but then one day, the sign was gone. All of the sudden, we had to know where the puppies had gone, so we pulled into the driveway and I went to the door. The woman told us that her son had taken the last four dogs to the Wal-Mart to sell them there. We went, and saw the four dogs. The only two I remember are the two we picked up. I picked up the last girl with an orange collar, and Witt picked up a boy with a brown collar. We knew we were getting a boy--it's what Mama Dog had chosen (we did hand choice games, and she always chose the brother hand). Once Witt picked up that brown collared dog, I knew it was over for the orange collared dog. It was love at first sight for those two. The brown ten week old baby crawled all over Witt and licked him all the way home.

We struggled over a name for about a week. Since we had Mama, I thought it would be funny to call him Uncle. Mama and Uncle--brother and sister. The name just didn't set well with Witt, though, and when JenFlinn and Chad were visiting and Witt came up with it. "Scholar!"

Happy Birthday, Scoob!