who's in the kitchen: judy joszef

Hotdog! My granddog Murphy’s Shabbos visit

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When I was growing up, I wanted a dog. My sister and brother, who were older than me, knew at that point what the answer would be, so they didn’t bother to ask anymore. “There will be no one home during the day and the dog will be lonely, our landlord wouldn’t be happy (we lived above them), and their favorite, dogs only live 10 to 13 years and we will be very sad when it dies.

That was put on my list of things not to tell my kids, along with “is it really necessary?” No, it’s not really necessary to have a sleepover, when I was 7, or come home at 2 am, but I wanted to! I promised myself that I would never ask my kids if something was necessary.

Fast-forward many years. I was married and had children and my kids asked for a dog. At that stage in my life my kids were in school all day and I was working as a pastry chef. I thought it would be mean to leave the dog home all day by himself. Add to that to the thought of having to get up at 6 o’clock in the morning to walk the dog, and again late at night and especially in the rain and the snow, and having to worry where we would leave the dog when we went on vacation or away for the weekend, and I found myself in the same position that my parents were in.

I told my children that it was a very big responsibility and since I would be the one who would end up doing all the work, I explained that when they get married, then they can get a dog. And … they listened! Jeremy and Darya are going to get a dog as soon as their lease is up in January and they move to an apartment that allows dogs. Meanwhile, Jordana and Dan just became parents to a 2-1/2 month old puppy mini golden doodle. To my surprise I was extremely excited the first time he came to visit. I actually made a sign and hung it on the door outside welcoming him. His name is Murphy. My son-in-law likes to think it’s after ex-Mets player Daniel Murphy, but my daughter and I know it’s after former Braves player Dale Murphy. Everything he did was cute and I found myself taking picture after picture of him. I can’t imagine what I’ll do when I actually become a grandmother.

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