A Fish Named Puppy (by KAC)

"I have a story" he says. His big hazel eyes tell me to pay attention. This is important.

"Okay, Kiddo let's hear it."

"I'm not Kiddo. I'm Harrison Comber." I start to smile, but he's serious, so I restrain.

"Okay, Harrison Comber. Tell me your story."

"One day...one day...uh. One day I was a boy. I was a boy and I had a dog and went to the park. There were giants playing baseball against fireworks and the fireworks turned into cows and the cows turned into a cake."

"What kind of cake?"

"A cow cake!" Of course. Silly question.

We were sitting at the park watching a man walk his black lab. It was a beautiful day for a picnic and fun in the sun. Harrison had just discovered the sand volleyball court and was filling a Silo cup with sand in attempts to build a sandcastle sans water and wasn't having much luck when the man and his dog walked by. The dog was just old enough not to be a puppy-- still playful but trained to stay by his master's side. Harrison yearned for a dog. His eyes and his beautifully creative story made that very obvious.

In case the story's intent was lost on his poor mother, Harrison then said, "Mommy, I have a question."

"Okay."

"How bout we get a dog?" His question was more an exclamation and his eyes lit up with possibility.

Unfortunately, due to timing and finances, a dog was out of the question. I had to think fast.

"What if we get a fish, and we name the fish puppy?"

Harrison thought over his mother's proposal. His brows furrowed and his bottom lip shot out a bit as he concentrated. Finally, he laughed loudly and infectiously.

"Okay!"

We threw away the remains of our picnic, emptied the volleyball court sand out of our shoes and headed to the pet store. An hour later, after thorough study of each Beta fish, Harrison selected the pet we fondly know as "Puppy."

This is one of many family stories we hope to document and share with friends and family. I only wish I had started this blog sooner so that we could have documented the beginning of Harrison's life up to this point. Now our son is three years and two days old and is expecting to be a big brother in August. Hopefully I will be more diligent in chronicling Harrison and Libby's adventures in the future. :-)