Meet Bella

Something completely unbelievable happened this Christmas at the O'Donnell house. After nearly 3o years of pet-less living, my family now owns a dog (!). Meet Bella!

She was only a few weeks old when we picked her up and the size of a small rat. Bella was primarily a gift to my sister Sara, who has pined for a dog ever since she was able to speak. My mom was always against having a pet, because a dog seemed like an insurmountable obstacle to keeping a clean house. A house full of unruly children was challenging enough.

But times have changed. In particular, the last year has taught all of us about impermanence and has helped us distinguish between things that are truly important (puppies) and not so important (clean rugs).

And so, a plan was hatched to get a puppy. All behind the back of Sara, who amazingly, remained in the dark until walking down the steps on Christmas morning.

Sara, was completely overwhelmed (obviously). For days, she alternated between states of elation and disbelief ("Really!?"). But Bella is the real deal and will be sticking around.


It seems that my parents have also fallen for Bella. My dad gets up every morning at 5:30 or 6 to take Bella for a morning walk. When I talk to my mom on the phone, the first 15-20 minutes revolve around Bella...you know, the latest adventures with bigger neighbor dogs, the newest toy(s), puppy apparel, peculiar behavior(s), etc.

An expected perk of having Bella is my family's new-found sense of community.  For the last 7 or 8 years, they've lived in a town-house development in the suburbs of Philadelphia, where they never really knew many of their neighbors.  Since Bella's been on the scene, they've made more friends than they can keep up with. A five minute walk with the dog becomes an hour-long discussion about puppies or the weather. One neighbor has actually volunteered to let Bella out every day at lunch, all in exchange for a dinner now and then.  All this because of a little puppy.  Pretty amazing.