Back to the beginning

The story really starts long before JonahLomu came into our lives. Well, relatively long. I met Matt at the beach, through a mutual friend. I was immediately drawn to him ("Guys, I met this guy, he's got tatoos and a Wolverine haircut, he looks like he fell out of a rock band."). Little did I know what I was getting myself into. :-) For starters, it turned out Matt has three kids from a previous marriage, so I immediately got more than I expected. My friends no doubt thought I was crazy. But Matt won them over as quickly as he won me over, "and the rest, as they say, is history." Fast forward a bit. I insisted on buying a "fixer-upper" house. Matt warned me, but I had my heart set ("It'll be just like camping!"). Closing was in December, and Matt went to work on demo. We moved in in March - and washed dishes in the bathtub until May. Turns out camping in a house is way overrated! But we finally got a kitchen sink, and now the house is almost normal. So that brings us to present-day, we have a kitchen but not much else, we've got big plans for the rest of the house, and we hang out with Rain, Marley, Atticus, JonahLomu and our friends as much as we can. I've learned that family can be defined in multiple ways. Some family you're born into. Some family you choose (I/we have the most wonderful friends, they truly are family). And some family you just end up with, led by fate and life choices. I love every form and facet of family I've found so far, I wouldn't do anything different. I know how lucky I am, how lucky we all are. Each day may not always go smoothly, but at least it makes for a good story, and we all end up sharing a good laugh with those we love most. :-)

JonahLomu comes to Florida!

JonahLomu, then nameless, arrived by air. He was shipped as live cargo from the breeder, and my mom and I picked him up in Orlando without incident. He stepped right out of his crate into the sun, a tiny little 8-lb ball of fluff, apparently unperturbed by the journey he'd just endured. We brought him home to a construction zone (major home renovations nowhere near complete), and so it began. Matt was against getting a puppy before the house was farther along, but who could resist such a cute fluffy face! That cute face has been his saving grace on many occasions. :-) The first few nights he would sleep quietly for a couple hours, and then howl and whine and carry on as if the world was ending. It's amazing that such a little creature could make such a big racket. So dramatic. :-) No-name puppy stayed that way for awhile, until we started calling him JonahLomu as a joke. Matt and Lindsay declared that he looked like a Jonah, so the name stuck. It's official - welcome home, JonahLomu! :-)