When I started the blog, I named it Oh Melvin because I said those two words SEVERAL times a day. In the beginning it was a frustrated Oh Melvin what have you done and at the end, it was a Oh Melvin, I love you bud. I gave no thought to how long I would blog or if the blog would outlive Melvin. Neither of those things felt like a concern to me at the time.
I no longer say “Oh Melvin” out loud anymore. In fact, I have not said those words since the moment we said goodbye. When I pull up the blog each day, I wonder about two things…
- Does oh Melvin, yo Jake feel right?
- How in the world will I ever add other dog names to that moniker?
To start, the URL will always be ohmelvin.com. I bought ohmelvin.com and I’m keeping it. Forever. That is always how you will get here. That URL is the soul of this blog. It is what brought us all together. Hopefully that relieves some concern.
The title of the blog probably needs to evolve though. Life has changed for us and the blog should reflect some of that shift.
I’ve been toying with two options.
- The first is from a line in a song that I sang to Melvin every night, a song that started long before there was ever a blog: Oh Melvin, into my life you came. In this option I would go with: “…into my life you came. The story of Melvin & Jake“. This would then allow for dogs who follow, to be represented (I’d just keep adding names).
- The other option I am considering is: “Love lives on. The story of Melvin & Jake.“. If you follow us on Instagram, you know that #loveliveson is a hashtag I have been using for the last three months. And it’s easy to add names on.
For both options, the menu heading that says “About Melvin (and Jake)’ would change to a different heading for each dog. Oh Melvin would include the background of Melvin. Yo Jake would be about the wonky-legged-googly-eyed-dude. I could then add a menu button for any other dogs that find their way to us. So there would still be Oh Melvin and Yo Jake visually.
So what is your opinion? Do you like 1 or 2? Do you dislike either? Do you have other ideas? Do you want it to stay Oh Melvin, Yo Jake (and if so, how do I add names to that?). Could I ask anymore questions in this paragraph?
And just a FYI, when asked, Jake suggested the blog be called: Just Jake.
Photo credit: Kate Juliet Photography
I really like them both but Loves Lives On really embodies what you and the boys are all about.
Thank you, I love your take on that.
I really like #1…I might even add another ‘&’ to the end to make room for the next 🙂 Even though my dogs are young, I have experienced loss enough in my life to know that one thing is certain…things are uncertain. My blog title is a play on my dog Ruby’s name, and it has a deeper meaning about rescue. After I adopted my second dog (rather unexpectedly, a foster failure) and began calling them The Ginger Sisters, I considered it renaming it, but I am still attached to the original title. Since I’ll always have rescue dogs, it will work for as long as I am blogging.
I love your blog name and the story behind it! And it DOES work, I totally get it. One of my issues with my current name, is it makes me feel a little sad. I miss having reason to say Oh Melvin. And when I say the other two out loud, they give me inspiration. We shall see!!! Thanks for reading along!
I was hoping you would keep the URL as ohmelvin!!!! My vote is #2 “Love lives on”. Those three words speak volumes….so powerful!
I will take that URL to the grave with me!!! Thanks for your feedback!
I love all three. I do like Oh MELVIN, Yo Jake then maybe you could add Hey New Dogs name and just keep going. I love that too. I love love love the menu button idea.
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Thank you!!!! Reading while on vacation, impressive!
I had the same problem when Sam passed – our blog is “How Sam Sees It”. We decided to keep the name, because the blog would never had happened if it wasn’t for Sam. I think most of us understand. You can put a little explanation in the sidebar. 🙂
Monty and Harlow, and their Mom, who misses her Sam every day.
Love your closing line. So much. And I love How Sam Sees It, it works when he was here and now that he’s watching over.
I think my favorite is also ‘Love lives on’ – it reflects that dogs may come and go, but the love you all share remains forever, and that’s a sweet sentiment!
That is the ultimate of the sentiments!! Thank you for your feedback!
I think you’ll figure out what feels right.
No doubt!
How about just “…into my life you came”? That way you could include all the special doggies in your life: past, present, and future 🙂
That’s a great idea! Thanks, Stephanie!
I love the ways you are honoring Melvin and your life together & I am excited to keep reading about your adventures! I might slightly prefer Love Lives On as the title, but both are great. What if you were to sub the heading “About Melvin (and Jake)” that you have now with the heading “Love Lives On”? Or use that somewhere else in the blog.
Melvin has touched so many lives indeed!
He lives on in so many surprising ways! Like thoughtful ideas on what to name the blog. Thank you!
You could say Just Jake, After Melvin then add names behind Jake. Otherwise I like Love Lives On. Oh Gosh it’s hard to let go. This whole thing has me crying again. Sorry.
Deep cleansing breaths (and know I’m crying with you). It is funny how Just Jake works so well now. I may need to work it in somehow!
I like Into My Life You Came..Melvin, Jake, and all others you might need you, weather they live in your house o not. I think it goes with your idea to spread Melvin’s joy by helping other dogs in need.
Thank you, Iris! There is Joy in that option.
I really thought I was going to vote for the second one but the first one “into my life you came…” is really growing on me, especially if you left it at just that. I feel like it really leads us (the readers) into the story of each precious pup. But no matter what you pick I know it will be perfect.
Thanks, friend!!! Really appreciate your opinion!