I love you Chip!! Nah... Tatum.. that is the name for him.
“Have you chosen a name for him?” my roommate bobbed in and out of my room as did the little puppy we had just brought home. I sighed. Not really...
“Uhh..” I stammered, putting up some clothes.
“I mean you have time.” she answered my silent question.
“Yeah.” I shifted my eyes all around the room looking for some sign. Nothing. We’ve had this puppy for a grand total of three hours, and I didn't have a name picked out, and for some reason it made me feel more of a terrible owner. It was my own guilt.
I saw a bag of Chips ahoy cookies laying beside my bed.
“Chip!” I yelled super happy that I had thought of something. I never wanted to name my animals after food but here I was exclaiming the most common of names for dogs.
“I love chip!!” she jumped up and down clapping. I felt as though she would have liked anything I picked. Perfect.
“Your name is Chip little guy.” I scooped him up from around my legs and held him up from my face. “Chip.”
*fast forward One hour later.”
“I don’t know about chip.” I groaned as I opened the back door to walk back inside. ‘Chip’ ran behind me.
“Chip is a good name!” my roommate assured me. I looked around for another person even though it was just me and her. Hm.
I was in the shower when I thought of it. Tatum. I love Tatum, I thought. Tatum. Tatum. Tatum. I walked out of the bathroom (clothed)
“Tatum!” my roommates smile faded. Well, I guess she wouldn't like everything I called him. “I like that more than Chip!”
“What happened to Chip?” she asked, yes, so she doesn't listen to me.
“I like Tatum more than Chip.” I repeated.
“Okay..” She mumbled. And we were off, my roommate being resistant and calling him Tatum Chip, me calling him Tatum.
Life was chaotic, how do you get used to a puppy? You don't. You take it every 20 minutes at a time, (the time span you take him on potty breaks). It quickly turned from 20 minutes to an hour, and then to two hours.
He was Tatum for a day. It wasn't until the next night that I looked at him and realized that I didn't feel like Tatum was for him. I began thinking of Channing Tatum every time I called his name and it wasn't working out. I couldn't be thinking of another human while calling my dog!!
“What is your name!?” I held him up to my face again, hoping he would tell me.
“Carl?” My roommate laughed as I slung around the name.
I resulted in texting my family a picture of him and the same question I had been asking myself.
My stepfather just had to text it once.
“JACK!” I shouted. That was it! That was his name!
“YES!!” my roommate clapped as excited as I was! “It fits him perfectly!”
“It does doesn't it!!?” I smiled the biggest smile I could “All the best people were named Jack!!”
“You're such a Jack.” I laughed at the puppy sitting on the bed with me, looking at me what seemed like for the very first time.
