I wrote a little about Tummie in a previous entry (my puppy) but I don't think the entry did him justice... no entry I write now or in the future will either but I want to keep his memory alive and one way to do that is in word, so tada.I still remember the first time I met Tummie... we'd just moved in to our very own house after living with my uncle for a couple of years so that we could set up a bit after immigrating from the Philippines. I was laying on my belly doodling on paper when my sister walks into the room with something in her hands, she whispered, "look Beb" and let her hands part. To summarize my reaction in a word: "Eep!"
We hid him from Dad that night... the parentals didn't want to complicate the new, spic and span clean house, with a brand new pup a.k.a. poop machine that would eventually grow to be a 70+ lb dog... at that time though, he was small enough to fit in the palm of my hand and in the shoe box I tried to make his bed hah.
The next morning, we quietly crept up next to the Daddio, regal in his brand spanking new kitchen enjoying breakfast and without saying a word held Tummie up in his line of view. He glanced over and grunted a stern staccato, "No" but we all know how that turned out eh? He may have a stern exterior that is all too familiar to my siblings and me but deep down, I know my dad is a softy and I thank him for everything he's done for my fam, including letting us keep Tummie...
What kind of a name is Tummie for a dog anyway? Well, not knowing that at the earliest stages, puppies sleep 99.9% of the time or something like that, we just thought, "Geez this dog is tamad!" or lazy in English. "I dub thee Tummie," was inevitable.
Tummie was there when my parents became proud home owners, when my sisters and I grew into independent women, when my brother grew into a strong man, high school, college, boyfriends, girlfriends, ups, downs, graduations, births, deaths, and so much more. Tummie was there through it all, always unconditionally loving each of us, protecting us from any harm (which he had an awesome way of sensing when we couldn't), and just reminding us that you can never have too much play and happiness in life...
