I’ve already told all the best Summer stories — about how on the way to pick out our new golden retriever puppy, Red and I talked what we would name her. We went through dozens of possibilities, just like the process that led to the naming of Willow the Best Dog There Was™ before her. Willow was a character in one of our favorite TV shows.

We were going through the characters from another Joss Whedon classic, and the actresses who played them. Kaylee? Jewel? Zoe? Gina? Inara? Morena? River? Summer?

There was a long pause, and I said. “I don’t know why, but ‘Summer’ passes the choke-Warren-up test.”

There was a longer pause, and to my surprise Red replied, tearfully, “Me, too.”

And that’s how Summer became Summer.

Then I spent 45 minutes at the breeder’s house sitting on the floor and letting golden retriever puppies climb over me while I asked, “Which one of you is Summer?” It was a hard decision, but the one with the yellow collar — code name Mimosa — won the day. Summer came home about a month later.

The pups — eight girls and two boys — had been born the night of July 19 and the early morning hours of July 20, 2021. We weren’t sure exactly when our puppy was born, but the papers say July 20, which was good enough for us. 

Summer is a very kind, very loving, very strange dog. There are 10 steps down from the deck to the backyard, and she negotiates those stairs all the time. But she has never, in all these years, come down the 10 steps to the basement, no matter how much I try to coax her.

We have been through a lot together, not the least of which was losing her human mom, who died a month before Summer’s second birthday. But with her big sister Dejah, Summer has been a constant source of joy and amusement for five years now. How is it possible that that wonderful origin story was already five years ago now?

Happy birthday, Summer Sum Sum, my amazing little pal.