Sasha

It's fitting to follow up my previous blog post titled "Colby" with one titled "Sasha." After losing Colby at the beginning of 2019, I had an emotional breakdown of sorts. It was hard to get motivated and my mind just felt blank for a very long time. It was a really tough loss.

On a lighter note, we brought home our third English Bulldog, Sasha, on November 23, 2019!


Here's the previous stories of Otis and Pippa (these are blog post gems, btw).
Not Sam
Moment of Weakness #2

Brian had been saying for some time that he wanted a third bulldog, so we found a breeder we trusted and the timing felt right. It was a brindle girl puppy. I originally was not a huge fan of the brindle, but I liked that all three of our bulldogs would have very different markings. My dad says that all we need now is the cow print.


So we headed down to Myrtle Beach to bring home our newest baby and this is where the story gets good. (Good in hindsight - let's be clear.)

Brian had offered to drive down to Myrtle, which was a nice surprise because I almost always do the driving in our family (I feel the need to talk more about that, but I'll save it). All went well and we  were driving back home with the pup; bound and determined to think of a name before we got home.

I threw out a few I liked, but it was Brian's turn to pick because he chose Otis and I chose Pippa. Brian would get the final say this go-round. I suggested some of my bulldog faves (Mona, Reba, Gretchen, Babe....), and reminded him that my all-time favorite girl name was Sasha.

(Sadly for me, I'll never get to use the name Sasha for a daughter because our last name is Strawberry. Sasha Strawberry 😳 Do not type that into your search engine. I don't think you'll see pics of our bulldog.)

It was a pleasant drive on a perfect day, as we drove with our new puppy along the country roads. I remember driving through Tabor City, which is Home of the Yam Festival according to their sign. Who knew?

I threw out some more name suggestions and Brian was particularly fond of the name Quinn, because of the O, P, Q trajectory we were on. So I was practicing Quinn as her name in my head about the time Brian began looking at his dashboard and saying "I need oil."

"Oil?...Like as in gas?" I asked.

(Apparently that was a dumb question based on his non-response).

Do you know how quickly a pleasant drive on a perfect day can turn miserable? Well, let me just tell you.

(p.s. - If you're dating someone that refers to one of his cars as his "daily driver"....run, don't walk. Or better yet, if he has more than one vehicle, just end it.)

Brian said there was an oil leak, he needed oil in the next 5-10 minutes, and I needed to locate somewhere to buy oil very quickly.

To remind you of where we were at, here's the aerial view:


WHAT THE HELL, BRIAN!?

After a very tense 10 minutes that almost led to divorce, Brian's GPS indicated there was an AutoZone a few miles away in Chadbourn, NC, Home of the Strawberry Festival.
(Where do I register for this?)

I was skeptical there'd actually be an AutoZone there, and spent a few minutes arguing my case. If you've never driven through Chadbourn, NC on your way to the beach, here's a picture of it from 1907:


And here's a picture of it from yesterday:


I didn't remember no AutoZone! But lo and behold, as we got to the outskirt of town, there it was. We made it there in the nick of time. We were thisclose to being stranded on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere with our nameless puppy.

And speaking of names....

As we pulled into the driveway that evening, a decision had to be made.

"OK," I said. "She needs a name. Your choice."

"I choose Remy," he said.


"Ok, fine. Sasha," he corrected.

And that's the story of how Brian picked our third dog's name.


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