Ollie Belle
- Samantha Hoback
- Mar 26, 2017
- 2 min read
I'm going to start this post with the fun stuff, then move to the Samantha-has-the-worst-luck-traveling stuff.
This weekend my family welcomed a little Shi-chon (Shih Tzu and Bichon) puppy named Ollie Belle. So, obviously, I had to fly down to Roanoke to meet the new addition. Before bringing her home, we enjoyed a festive Mexican feast--margaritas, shrimp tacos, corn-black bean-mango salsa, and homemade guac--and watched Beauty and the Beast as a family late Friday night. (Side note: Might be my new favorite movie. Definitely pre-ordering the DVD. Go see it if you haven't already.)
Saturday morning, my parents left to pick up the puppy, and I went to breakfast with my best friend at Scrambled downtown. It was a much-needed catch-up session. Nothing like talking gossip over customized egg sandwiches.
And then, it was time to meet Ollie.
Ollie Belle is named for my great-aunt, Ollie Elise, whom my mother called Mama Belle. When I first saw the puppy, I laughed. Not as hard as my sister, but I did. I laughed. She was SO TINY!!! My sister said she looked like a hamster. And she totally did. Absolutely the tiniest little puppy I've ever seen. She weighed a pound, if that. Most of which was fluff and sass.
It didn't take long before the whole family was smitten. Okay, maybe not the whole family. Harley is still unsure about Ollie, his new little sister. He'll come around. I hope.
I wasn't able to be there when my parents brought Harley home nearly four years ago, so it meant a lot to me to be there when Ollie joined our crazy, loud family. I can't wait to see her again, even though she will have grown twice her size by then.
Okay, as promised, the tumultuous travel tale.
Friday I hailed a cab right outside my building. A good sign. When I got in, I told the driver I was headed to LaGuardia Airport. Fine. Literally less than a minute later, the driver asked me to put the address for the airport into his phone so he can follow Siri's directions. That should have been my first clue.
Second clue: Instead of taking the FDR to the RFK bridge, my driver took 2nd Avenue to the Queensboro Bridge. No big deal, since LaGuardia is in Queens. Except, instead of staying on the main road, he followed "Siri" into a neighborhood, where the streets were still not fully plowed from last week's snow. And then we got stuck behind a garbage truck. And then he asked, "Did she say, 'Turn left'?" And then he had to turn around because he missed the exit for the airport. At one point I asked, "Have you driven to the airport before???" He ignored me.
By some miracle I made it to the airport with plenty of time to get through security, check my flight status, buy coffee--oh, how I wanted a large triple-soy latte--and a bagel. My flight was on time and not crowded. I landed early. And a 33-pound black lab met me at the airport (Hey, Cooper!). So, you know. I survived.
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