Happiness is a Wet Puppy

As always - The Cast of Characters

Me (The Daddy)
The Bean: Age 7
The Butterfly: Age 5
The Darling Wife
And introducing Disco Doggie

The great philosopher Charles M. Schultz once wrote that "Happiness is a Warm Puppy".  John Lennon had a slightly different take on it, but this rare instance, Lennon could not be more wrong.

The Bean and The Butterfly saw that their cousins had a beautiful Golden Retriever puppy.  This resulted in what can only be called the Greatest Ad Campaign ever envisioned by a seven-year-old mind.

The Bean taped notebook paper to our most of our walls with crude sketches of a dog and the tag line: Only Thing I Want.

After a day, The Butterfly joined the effort.  Blue Post-It notes now covered our walls, and I found them impossible to ignore.

I've written the text for a children's book called Daddy I Want a Puppy in which the main character Lily uses her seven-year-old wiles to convince her father that a puppy would be a good idea.  She also tries to convince him that it should be the rest of the family that performs the walking, bathing and scooping duties.

Life Imitating Art all over again.

I did what any good father would do when faced with insurmountable pressure: I caved.

Lily The Bean has succeeded.  Disco Doggie is adorable.  He is a honey-colored Golden puppy and is curled at my feet as I write this.

The DW takes Disco Doggie outside every time he whimpers.  He mostly just rolls in the grass and comes back drenched and muddy.  He then proceeds to "do his business" on the carpet.  The fact that so much "business" could come out a little body is astounding.

But Disco Doggie is here for the long haul.  The fact that he eats socks and shoe laces and growls at his reflection in the mirror makes him all the more lovable.

True Happiness may very well be a Wet Puppy.