To be....not to be....to be....not to be....to...to...to.....Toby :)

[justify]We are driving across America or so it feels as I drive for just 4 hours to bring cousins visiting from India, to my place. The kids want to be polite and so quietly ask "Are we there yet?" only for the 10th time. We haven't driven long distance in a long time you see. I take a look at the GPS and the route map is silently showing me that we only have another 100 miles or so. I see heads gently drooping down in a slight slumber all around me. I want them to sleep but I need company too. How long can I dance while singing out loud in my seat to the loud Indian music that I am playing. So I make a decision to take that next exit and grab some coffee for all of us. That wakes everyone up including the GPS lady and puts some excitement in an otherwise dull car. While the kids try to scream over one another on what they wanted, it is the GPS lady that caught my attention. She awoke from her sleep perhaps with a startle and goes into a panic mode asking me to take the next possible you turn - as soon as I can. I catch myself talking to her assuring her that I know what I am doing but to no avail. As we pull over to the place we wanted to drive through, she seems to have calmed down, appears to have understood we are doing something but seems only waiting for her turn for, the moment the car is in motion, back she is asking me to do something. I find myself calming her with a "shh...shh...now now I know what I am doing" almost searching for head to pacify her. At that moment, I knew I had lost it! Seriously!! Am I missing that little fellow already? It is my first full day out.

We are eager, kids are excited. We have a mail that says, we have been approved. We look at the fellow and he stares back and I am not sure, I feel he is telling me "No way lady! I am not coming to your house!" I don't want to disappoint my kids. It is a yes from all of us, I say nothing and we come back home waiting to hear from the adoption agency and we hear a no. There is a dullness which is soon replaced by "Ah whatever, if it is not Trevor, it will be someone else. The search goes on!" and so we meet, Monica, max and his sister but go hmmmmm....not sure of what we want or what we can handle. Then we meet kaypsing. We go kaypsing???? He comes, checks us out and goes to the door looking out as if waiting, with a look of "can't wait to get out of this place. There is so much to explore outside!" While we continue to play with the other playful pups, I catch my DH staring at this little fellow with a longing in his eyes. I know eventually I am the decision maker - I have the right you see when I signed up for this, I have also signed up for all the cleaning while the family has signed up for the fun. So to avoid too many choices, after all we were looking at a litter of 9 pups, I make the decision for my DH and he is all smiles.

I declare to my friends with pride that we have a new addition to our family and we have called him "yogi"! My sister goes...yogi with a question and perhaps a raised eyebrow and doesn't say more. A good friend goes "Why S!! Such a profound name?" Another one goes, "I associate that with yogi bear!" A cousin in India goes, "Couldn't you find a johnny, timmy, puppy or some such name?" I have a few who go "wow, that is such a cute name" including a couple of teenagers. But in my mind I am already going "should he be a yogi or not!" The first week he is home, when I do my Sanskrit studies of Gita he lays at my feet and dozes off. I am all smiles, there is a ray of hope. He may be a yogi after all. And then there is so much to learn from him especially when I see him do his downward dog after every nap! Then one morning I play Vishnusahasranamam by MS and catch him run into his kennel and hide. As I continue to watch him, I see that he does this to all Indian music I play and then when I play VS again and MS goes, "Yogo yoga..." guilt pangs set in. I seem to be noticing yoga, yogi, yogo...everywhere suddenly! I am the only who seems to be struggling though, no one else I mean the family, seems as bothered. I go in my mind, "Oh well none of you know Sanskrit or Philosophy or Yoga" and the rational simple me goes "But but that is such a cute name! And it is just a name!" Who knew naming a puppy could be this hard? A curious friend asks me all the noise around the name Yogi and as I briefly explain the meaning. She goes "Oh then that is like calling our dog pope!" That did it! I decide time to change and anyways he is only one week old in the house.

So I have friends and my sister texting me 15 names a minute. The texts include all the constellations, the Russian names and we explore even some chemical names! This mommy is not pleased that easily. I continue to think .....to be or not to be.....to be or not to be.....and Toby comes to mind suddenly! My DH goes - doesn't matter Toby, goby, loby....just stick with one already! My sis goes phew..I can stop searching. My friends go "He looks like a toby", my DS goes..."aaaa....whatever" (though I feel he was more inclined towards yogi!) and my DD well, she is busy telling everyone in the neighborhood that we have changed the name. Who cares what it is. We have a puppy and that is the real news! So I continue to smile "to be a yogi....not to be a yogi....to be ...not to be.....Toby!" When I call the pup by the name, he stops and looks at me. Toby it is then and anyways it rhymes with pinky, sony, mony....all the earlier pups we have had!

So with family visiting for a week, leaving him alone and going to pick them has not been easy. Though I have neighbors taking care of him in my absence, yes even for 4 - 5 hours, my mind goes to him often and I am as anxious to get a text from my neighbors that all izz indeed well......it must be the mommy in me I sigh! Now do you see why that repeated anxious behavior of the GPS lady reminded of my little Toby with an instant urge to pat her head and calm her down? I must be nuts no? And oh yeah, Toby doesn't stare out of the gates and windows longingly anymore like he did when we went to pick him. He wants to be around us all the time and we do call him "rascala" sometimes :biggrin2: [/justify]

 

But but Rihana, that same I know better than you attitude will prevent me wanting to run my hand over his head no? I do agree with you though - my DH likes to have just to tease me.

It is so nice to have visit my thread. Thank you!

I will make sure I will use the words in tandem Sounds fun!

 

Thank you Pavithra for your words. Dogs are such fun and having grown with them, we wanted one here but took forever to get one home here. It has been work, a lot of it but I am sure he will outgrow soon the puppy naughtiness and we will have fun with him.

 

yellowmango, Thank you for assuring me that yogi was a cool name! I feel better. I am the GPS person in our house and I am known to get lost with GPS giving me directions and instructions. If there is one technological advancement I am thankful for, it is this - without a doubt! I will listen to T till I use the same route some 5 times and then figure out.

Nuts and bolts for the name eh. Sounds fun you should let him choose Thank you for your feedback.

 

That is so sweet V sir and I can imagine the Orion getting precedence over everyone. My FIL did the same thing with our pups - no matter what he made sure he was home by night for them and so did my parents for ours!

That's a good one on the GPS. I most definitely need it and like I said earlier, it is one of the modern gadgets I absolutely enjoy having. And who will not want the fun of hearing various accents and thank God to GPS, now men can really not ask for directions and still reach a place :bggrin2: U are better man - I wish I could say I don't take illegal turns. Unless it is written specifically, it is legal in my world!