God Bless the USA

Well, after nearly 11 hours in the air, I made it home to Maryland on Monday afternoon. Ryan also arrived safely in Illinois yesterday with the puppy who, incidentally, is no longer named Luke. More on that in a second...

Our last night in-country was spent at the Sveta Sofia Hotel in the capital. Kevin, one of our totally awesome PCV friends, joined us for some yummy Chinese food, Zagorka beer and outstanding conversation. Bulgaria is such an awesome country and as much as I was happy about returning to the States, it was equally as tough to say goodbye. We will definitely go back for a visit someday. In the meantime, there's plenty o' fun in store for Ryan and me, starting with his visit to Maryland tomorrow.

As far as the Pup Formerly Known As Luke is concerned, he evidently handled the flights very well and is enjoying his new home in Findlay, Illinois. After all, there are toys and treats to be had. Grandma and Grandpa are spoiling him very well. (Yeah. I said Grandma and Grandpa. Ryan and I refer to ourselves as Mommy and Daddy too... and sometimes we even talk to each other in baby talk when the puppy is not around... ya' wanna make somethin' of it?)

Anyway, when Ryan and I first named the puppy, he didn't have much of a personality yet. So Luke seemed to fit just fine. Then he started doing more than just walking and sleeping. He started to frolic. And run into stuff while playing with his stuffed cow. And crawl into Ryan's shoes. And get teeth. (Also pee and poop all over the entire apartment, but that is another story.)

For some reason neither Ryan nor I could bring ourselves to call him Luke. Instead we had settled on calling him "The Puppers". Clearly this could not be his proper name because we are nauseating... but not that nauseating.

Then "The Puppers" figured out he really likes to gnaw on people... particularly their ears.

And it came to us.

His name is Tyson (or Ty).

Coincidentally I happen to have a good friend named Tyson (or Ty). But as much as I like my friend Ty, we didn't really name the puppy after him.

It's after Mike Tyson.

Haaaaaaa! We kill ourselves. (Actually I am giving myself too much credit. It was Ryan's idea.)

So. Um. Hi Ty! Hope you don't mind having the cutest puppy in the whole entire world as an inadvertent namesake! And to everyone else... it's good to be back! I'm looking forward to catching up - hopefully in person - soon!