Two years ago, we brought this little firecracker home from Florida’s Space Coast.
Kenobi Echo of the Stars is everything I love about this breed. Bold. Adventurous. Mischievous. Hilarious. With a penchant for “forget your rules” and “I know more than you” — but who needs to be cuddled whenever she isn’t contemplating her next great exploration.
She’s grown now, but still the perfect little pocket pointer at only ~30lbs. Making her insistence to join me while I work (me, obviously, as her “chair” and window to the world) a tad easier. I joke she all but grew up on @webex because in the weeks and months after we brought her home, I juggled work - sleep deprivation - and chasing after a puppy who day by day slept less and explored more.
She was the beginning of what I learned were the “best worst things” in life — because, y’all, those days were TOUGH. The tiny, serrated jaws of a shark lived in this puppy. Her bladder never stopped producing puddles. NEVER. There were a lot of tears. A lot of new things we never expected. And I’m sure neighbors thought a crime was taking place when we tried to give her baths.
But I also reveled in waking that tiny 8lb puppy up for 3am potty breaks. The little neck nuzzle of that tiny treasure disguised as a tornado. How she’d come to look for us in moments of calm. How she learned to *not* look at us in moments of guilt. How she led to us breaking the infamous “no dogs on the couch” rule. How she still cuddles on that couch the way she did back then — by finding the bend of your need or the curve of your torso, sliding into it, and tossing her head over your thigh.
Somehow, we made it through the storm that was exhaustion, nonstop puddles, shark bites, and bruises. Somehow, we made it through the days that felt so long you’d wonder if this was how it’d always be — knowing, of course not; somehow, someday — these would be the good old days. Knowing, even then, to latch on to their magic. Somehow, we made it through.
It wasn’t without the help of our village, a puppy playpen, a load of @deathwish coffee (@WhiteClaw for the After 5 time frame 😂), and the “entertainment” of a computer featuring my team. She still watches along on meetings, often waking up from naps to check-in with ‘her’ #WeAreCisco team, and has a love of observing everything from TV screens to butterflies and airplanes in the sky.
I love simply just watching her contemplate life — wondering where it’ll take us next — knowing often it’ll be what we least expect. With GSPs, it’s always what you least expect. It’s one of the things I love most about her. It’s the secret I think so many miss when they think of this breed as only pure chaos.
Two years later, it feels as if she’s always been here — a piece of us we never knew we were missing until we found it.
Now excuse me while I go cry and scream “LOOK HOW TINY SHE WAS!” at every photo I see of her today. 😭😍😂
