Meet our new addition!

I have been procrastinating posting this until I had the perfect picture, but I haven't managed to A) take the perfect picture and B) upload it to the computer so I could post it. No more procrastinating, here she is. This is her picture from the Petfinder profile:




She was given up supposedly for killing the family's chickens on the farm in VA. We'll never know what really happened, but it's clear she was not well treated there. (She does show an active interest in the geese though.) She came with the name "JJ." Ixnay on the JJ. So we began the process of trying to come up with a name for her.

Beastie was voted down, as were Dipthong, Artemis, Kukla, Dingo and about a bazillion others I came up with. Kali would have been a good choice - the goddess with two faces, but my younger daughter's middle name is Cali so that wouldn't do.

She comes to the office with me most days and is such a calming influence that my mother suggested we name her granddog "Therapy."

The girls thought Poupee would be good, French for Doll. Husband said no way are we naming our dog anything with poop in it.

He decided on Luna. Her face has a dark side and a light side...you can even see craters in her coloring if you look a certain way. But I know a couple of other Luna animals and thought we should find something else.

So I set about researching the perfect name: goddesses, Greek and Roman. Things with two faces. Lesser known and pagan goddesses. She's part Australian Shepherd and part Collie, but I can't exactly name her "Shrimponthebarbie" now can I? Came home with a list. All voted down, with one exception: Sybele.

Sybele was a pagan goddess later incorporated into Artemis. She was the goddess of wild animals, especially Lions and Bees. LIONS and BEES! My older daughter's name translates to Honeybee. Younger daughter: Lion. What are the chances? Dad says Sybele pronounced like "SIH-bih-lee." But I can't say it without a Southern twang: Sy-bEHlll.

Of course by then Luna was a done deal. It took me so long to come up with a good name that they had all decided Luna was her name and she was even responding. I asked my friend Polina, who is Russian, how to say Moon in Russian. LooNAH. Then I had a dream - a big fat anxiety dream and right smack in the middle of it I remember telling myself "I can't keep looking for any more names, fuck it - her name is Luna." So my subconscious named her Luna.

Her middle name is Sybele.

And I get to call her: LunaSyBELL! But I usually just say Luna. She likes it when I say it the Russian way: LuNAH.

So. Luna Sybele has a home and a name and she is the sweetest dog - ever. She is getting used to the kids' noise and likes to herd them. She is a very happy dog and would make a terrible guard dog because she LOVES strangers. She wags her whole body when we come home.

Any my 7-year old daughter? The one who gave me SUCH trouble this summer? Is a changed kid. I have never, ever seen her this consistently happy. Luna is a wonderful addition and I promise to post more (better) pictures as soon as I can.