Murphy's a hit

A year ago, my family grew in number by one, but in seemingly every other way, by so much more.

Despite not living in the Midwest, I'd set my heart on getting a Boston. My parents and my girlfriend, Haeli, said it would be my Christmas present and so we looked to MWBTR. The chance to cap a trip back home to Kansas City by adding a new member to my family was too good to pass up and at first, it looked like it was too goo to be true, but fortunately, everything came together quickly at the last moment. I spent an hour on the phone with my coordinator, Erica, on New Year's Eve setting up home visits on the 3rd.

Our first stop, my girlfriend and I met an energetic little Boston, but decided to meet the others. The second stop was a nice older Boston, and we were told he wasn't a cat fan, so we just didn't match-up perfectly. Our third and final stop, I met Romeo. He was perfect - aside from the name.

After calling him Southie for a day and a half and get stuck in a blizzard just shy of the Pennsylvania border, we finally made it home to Cooperstown, N.Y. with Murphy - named after the Boston-based band the Dropkick Murphy's.

Life with Murphy has been great. He goes everywhere with me. Each trip I've taken to Boston to see Haeli at school or even just to grab milk at the store. There are so many amazing stories I have to tell, but I'd need to write a whole Web site to tell them all.

He's a total hit. He's the perfect dog, content to cuddle and watch KU basketball or Royals baseball with me anytime I'm sitting on the couch or excited to play in my landlord's backyard and chase a laser pointer up and down the hallway. Everything about this dog is cute, hilarious or sweet. He's so much ingrained in the family I've created with my girlfriend and our cat, that we couldn't imagine life without him. He's so expressive, it's like having a little kid running around.