All in a Name
Meet Sami
The journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step. This journey begins with a single name.
Sami came into my life carrying a name, a history, and a story I knew almost nothing about. Somehow, that little dog from the Humane Society would eventually lend his name to this deck.
A Little Dog Named Inca
In January 2025, I decided I was ready to bring another little four-legged being into my life. I knew I didn’t want a puppy. I was 50 years old, and I wanted to adopt an older dog and give him a chance at a second life.
I went to the Humane Society one weekend and didn’t meet anyone who felt like mine, so I went back the following weekend. That’s when I met Inca. He had actually been at the shelter the weekend before, but he wasn’t available for adoption yet. He had been found living on the streets, needed to be neutered, and was still recovering from surgery.
He was tiny and extremely thin, weighing about 11 pounds. You could see every rib and the bones of his spine. The shelter estimated that he was five or six years old, although I’ll never know his exact age. He was a light cream or fawn Chiweenie, mostly Chihuahua with just enough Dachshund to give him a long little body, floppy ears, and unmistakably Dachshund feet. He also had three little dots on his tail, the only real markings on an otherwise cream-colored body.
We spent some time together, and on January 17, 2025, I adopted Inca and brought him home.
A Name I Had Been Carrying
The strange part of this story actually began eleven years earlier. In 2014, I knew that someday I wanted a dog named Sammy. I didn’t know whether that future dog would be a Samantha or a Samuel. I also imagined having an English cream Dachshund someday. I didn’t think much about either of those things again until this skinny little cream-colored Chiweenie appeared in my life eleven years later.
I had lost my dog Bella Jean only two months before meeting him, after sixteen years together. I was heartbroken and carrying an immense amount of grief. When I brought Inca home, I realized I didn’t want to name him Samuel after all. He had already lived five or six years before me. He had an entire life and history I knew nothing about, and somehow giving him my last name didn’t feel right either. I wanted his name to belong to him. After all he had been through, he deserved something that was only his.
So he became Samwise Baldr Falkor, and every part of that name meant something to me.
Samwise came from Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings. To me, Samwise is the good buddy who stays beside you on the road. I wasn’t simply looking for another dog after losing Bella Jean. I wanted a companion, a friend, a little partner in life; just like my Bella was for so many years. That was what I hoped Samwise would mean, and that is exactly what Sami became.
Baldr came from the Norse god associated with light, beauty, goodness, and peace. It fit this extraordinarily sweet little dog who seemed to love everyone he met. He came into my life during a very dark season and brought an enormous amount of love and light with him.
And then there was Falkor, the luckdragon from The NeverEnding Story. Part of the name came from his appearance: his light cream coloring, long body, and sweet face reminded me a little of Falkor. But mostly, I loved the idea of giving a dog who had already survived the streets luck as part of his name.
Good buddy. Light and love. Luck.
Samwise Baldr Falkor.
That was the name I wanted him to carry into his second life.
Why S-A-M-I?
I had always known I would call him Sammy, but once his full name became Samwise, I made the conscious decision to spell his nickname Sami. That spelling felt more connected to Samwise, and it carried another meaning for me too.
At the time, I was learning about Sámi culture in northern Scandinavia. Reindeer have held deep personal meaning for me for years, and I had recently purchased a Sámi oracle deck. I was connecting with the art and traditions I was learning about, particularly this northern culture with such a profound relationship with reindeer. Choosing Sami allowed his nickname to grow naturally from Samwise while also quietly honoring something that had become meaningful to me.
At the time, I thought I understood all the reasons why I had chosen that spelling.
I didn’t.
Then Peru Happened
In 2026, I began researching Peru, its history, the Andes, Quechua language and culture, and the places I would eventually travel through. Somewhere in all that research, I encountered a Quechua word I had never knowingly seen before: sami.
The exact spelling I had deliberately chosen for my dog’s name.
In Quechua, sami is associated with good fortune and well-being. In Andean contexts, it can also carry a sense of vital, beneficial energy or blessing. I remember discovering that and thinking, you have got to be kidding me.
Because Sami’s name at the shelter had been Inca.
He came into my life as Inca. I renamed him Samwise and deliberately chose Sami as the spelling of the name I would call him every day. More than a year later, while preparing for a journey to Peru, I discovered sami waiting for me in Quechua.
None of that was planned. I didn’t know the Quechua word when I named him. I didn’t adopt him because his name was Inca. I simply met a little dog at the Humane Society and brought him home. I believe in synchronicity, and this is one of those stories where there are simply too many little connections not to notice them.
The Trail We Walk Together
Today, Sami is no longer the starving 11-pound dog I met at the shelter. He’s about 14 pounds now. His coat has grown in, and even the three little dots on his tail that were once his most distinctive markings have become harder to see as he’s gotten healthier. He is still the sweetest little being, and somehow he has become quite the adventurer too.
We hiked roughly 750 miles together during our first year, and this year we’ve already walked hundreds more. He is my hiking dog, my traveling dog, and my little companion on the trail. He cuddles beside me at home and then happily heads out into the mountains with me. He really did become exactly what I hoped Samwise would mean: my good buddy and partner in life.
So when this deck needed a name, the path led back to him.
Quni Samiyuq.
This deck is named for my little Sami and dedicated to him. He came into my life carrying a name connected to the Inca, became the good fortune I didn’t know I was naming, and brought love, light, companionship, and miles and miles of trails into my life.
For a little dog who started his story with me as Inca, I can’t imagine a more fitting place for his name to have led.
Stay Sami.