Today, Tuesday, April 27, is National Little Pampered Dog Day in the United States. Now that’s an excuse to party if I ever heard one.
Her name is Emmie, and she is eight months and one week old today. We picked her up last fall, a tiny puppy—black and white, with one brown eye and one bright blue eye. My husband calls the blue one her “pirate eye.” She has definitely given us something to celebrate in the midst of a pandemic.
Needless to say, I fell instantly in love.
I expected some crying, at least the first few nights. After all, Emmie had never known life without her litter mates. But she gave us one look, decided we were her pack, and settled in to enjoy life in the Berry household. Emmie is one happy dog.
I also expected a trying period of potty training. That expectation was realized. Shih Tzus are notoriously difficult to train. It’s not that they’re dumb—far from it—but they are stubborn. Emmie is true to her breed. She’s a sturdy little girl, active and athletic. She loves to run, carry sticks, and play with her toys. They all squeak—who knew? Her favorite toy is her yellow ball. She loves that ball so much.
Most days she can be found on my computer desk, helping me write. We started that from the get-go—a way for me to keeps tabs on her and still write. Now, more than double in size, she still expects to spend time with her chew stick near my computer monitor and keyboard. Sometimes she adds letters to my page. When I do my final copy edits in a couple of weeks, I know I’ll find a few of her additions to delete. She’s become my writing buddy and my muse.
If Little Pampered Dogs aren’t your thing, don’t despair. The twenty-seventh of April also happens to be Free Feral Cat Spay Day (a worthy cause), Tell A Story Day (I can get behind that one), the start of Bedbug Awareness Week (oh, please), and World Immunization Week (isn’t that apt?).
There’s always an excuse to party if you look hard enough. I’m looking forward to two major celebrations. Most important is June 8, launch day for The Art of Betrayal, the third in my Kate Hamilton Mystery series. But the biggest celebration will happen a week earlier on June 1, the day I turn in my WIP, entitled The Shadow of Memory.
Until then, Emmie and are hard at work.
Who comes up with these holidays anyway?
Do you have a favorite weird holiday? Head over to Facebook and reveal your excuse to party.