Parker's Story...
Hi! My name is Parker, but sometimes my mommy calls me "Parker Honeypot" because... well probably because I look like a pot of honey! Actually, she calls me a lot of other names too, and I made a list of the ones I could remember down below my picture.
I've had a very interesting life, and wanted to share some of my fun memories with everyone. When I was just 3 I lived on Long Island in New York with my brother Tiger, and also some people who gave us food. Those people just called me "Puppy" (I guess 'cause they couldn't think of a better name). The people said they were going to "give us up" and I think it was so they could go to a home for retiring, and maybe to get some assistance for their living. I didn't understand it all, but Tiger and I ended up in what's called a "shelter," which Tiger found to be very scary. Hah--and I thought older brothers are supposed to be brave! I heard the shelter workers say they might "put us to sleep" if someone didn't come get us. Since I was really tired, I thought it sounded great, and told my bro. Tiger got nervous and said it sounded bad. He always worries too much!
Fortunately, a woman picked us up and said she was from a "rescue" which sounded very noble. She took us in her car, and whisked us away, out of New York and into a state called Pennsylvania. There we met up with a new man and new woman from the rescue who were supposed to take care of us for awhile. The man asked the rescue woman "which doggie is which?" but she wasn't sure. So the man said "Hey, Puppy!" and I immediately turned and said "hi" back with a friendly bark and some licks on his hand. The man laughed and said, "This one must be Puppy!" They put us in their car and drove us really far back to their house in Virginia. They were supposed to be something called "temporary" and find us new parents, but I had a different idea. I thought they would make a good forever mommy and daddy, so I went to work to keep them around.
As soon as the front door opened I ran up the stairs and started inspecting the house. Lots of stairs for exercise? Good. Wood floors? Fancy. Soft rugs to lie on? Awesome. And the best part was the house backed up to a lake with a trail around it. Now I knew I would have lots of fun here; I'd get to hunt deer, swim laps in the lake, pitch a tent for camping, and maybe go fishing if I could convince the man to get some poles for me. But first I had to make sure these people understood they were our new parents. Fortunately, I can be impossible to resist when I want.
Pretty soon, mommy and daddy decided Puppy was not a real name, so they tried to figure out a new one. They wanted it to start with a "P" so it would be easy for me to recognize, but also capture my personality. It should be British, sound like a rugby player, and fit a dashing young golden-haired boy. After working though many long lists, they finally came up with my perfect name--Parker! I agreed it was pretty good, so we decided to keep it.
Mommy went to work pretending to find me and Tiger a new home, but it was all just so daddy would think she was really trying. She came up with lots of good excuses why no one else could take care of us, then kiss me on the forehead and say "we can't let you go to just anyone, Parker-Poo." When the nicknames started I knew I had captured her heart! :-)
Now that's not to say I completely trusted mom and dad right away. Sometimes while they watched TV I'd sit on the floor beside the couch, looking around the corner at them so I could make a break if they suddenly got too weird. I pretty quickly learned that mommy was totally awesome, though, and over time I realized daddy was ok too... you just had to get to know him first. As soon as mommy saw my dad was weakening she filled out the adoption papers and we were one big happy family. Yay!!!
And my extended family was lots of fun too. Pretty soon I got to hang out with my cousins, but I couldn't figure out why they all had only two legs and no fur. Hmmm... what kind of puppies are these guys anyway?
As a family we took some great trips! Pretty much every year daddy's family all goes down to North Carolina to some beaches called the "Outer Banks." But Outer Banks is apparently too hard to write so everyone just says OBX instead. We would stay in a beach house with my aunts, uncles and 2-legged cousins. And sometimes even more relatives from a place called Chicago would come too, and we'd all have Italian Beef and lots and lots of people wanted to rub my tummy! We'd always go out to play on the sandy beaches, run through the waves, and maybe go for a car ride to a lighthouse. We loved to watch the sunrises over the Atlantic Ocean, and sunsets over the Pamlico Sound.
Mommy and daddy also took us to a cabin on Claytor Lake south of Christiansburg. It was so much fun! We got to go out on a boat (and I barked at the waves to keep them from getting my mommy!), roast marshmallows, grill yummy dinners over the coals, and do lots of other fun stuff for a whole week. It was so much fun that we started going back a lot more, and made Claytor Lake State Park one of our very special family spots!
So what did I like better, the lake or the beach? Hmmm... I'm not sure!
So those big trips were super duper fun, but what I really loved were the things we did every single day. We would walk along the path that circles the lake behind our house, going down to the footbridge and looking at the fish swimming around to find food. Whenever the ducks would waddle up the shore I'd give a few hearty barks, and they'd spin around to head right back to the water (Yeah, they know I'm tough!). Occasionally we'd spot a bunny along the trail and my mommy would run with me towards him until he hopped into the grasses and disappeared. Our lake walks were just the best times ever!
We also loved to go for walks at Ida Lee Park. There weren't usually many people there, so Tiger and I, and later our sister Maisey too, had the the soccer fields all to ourselves. We could run around the flat ground and trimmed grass until we were out of breath, then we'd sit together on a picnic blanket and have a snack of ice cream and chicken nuggets. Sometimes we talked with the nice people who grew vegetables in the park's garden plots, and they always gave us veggies and herbs to take home with us. Yummy! The church bells in the distance were always so nice to hear as we watched the sun setting at the park, letting us know everything was closing up and it was time to head home.
But perhaps the best thing in the world were my car rides with mommy. She would put me in the front seat, roll down the window, then go nice and slow through the neighborhood and along the quiet, wooded back roads. The memories of those earthy, forest smells will be with me forever, always reminding me of the special times me and my mom went out to do stuff, just the 2 of us.
Whether travelling to a far off adventure, hanging out at my grandma & grandpaw's house, tromping through the woods, or just laying in bed while my mommy rubbed my tummy, I've had a really good time with my mom and dad, and bro and sis. It's been a lot of fun, and I'm lucky to have been really, really happy.
Oh, and I think my mommy gave me over a million kisses, so she must have really, really loved me! That's all a little doggie could ever ask for.
- Parker
Nicknames
Parker had an amazingly exuberant personality, and evoked many nicknames right from the start, and new one kept being given to him. This is by no means a complete list, but just a sample of the many names he went by:
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Parker Poo
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Boo (or Boo Boo)
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Chicken Nugget (or Little Nugget)
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Tater Tot
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Spud (or Spud-muffin)
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Romeo
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Parkero (that's Latino!)
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Parkois (that's French)
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Lug Nut
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Beignet
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Parker Honeypot (his children's book nom de guerre)
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Love dove
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Parker-licious
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Golden Son/Sun
Many names, and so much love!