The Unconditional Love of Pets
By Joshua
On Tuesday we were a family, and on Wednesday my family was missing a member. This is the story of how my dog passed away and how we eventually moved on and got a new four legged member of the family.
Our dog Vanna was turning 18 in a month. It was a Sunday and we drove down the coast of California and stayed in a hotel overnight right on the beach. While we were at the beach, my dog started throwing up, so we took her to the hospital. While we were waiting for Vanna’s results, both my parents and I were crying because we thought that we would lose her. Miraculously she survived but was still sick. Looking back I would know that she didn't have much time left, but at the moment I was just happy that she was okay. The next day my mom pulled me out of school, which was online at the time. We went to Marin and I just held Vanna in my lap. My parents left the air in the car and I locked the doors. Then Vanna crawled onto my lap and sat down while I watched a movie on my phone. In the stillness of the car I just looked at Vanna and smiled.
I woke up the next morning and was still happy with how yesterday went. I jumped on online school, then during my break I looked around for Vanna but couldn't find her. so I asked my mom, and she said that she was with my dad running an errand. I felt like she was hiding something but I needed to go back to class. Later that day my mom told me she, Vanna, and my dad were going on a hike, so I went back to online school. Later when school ended I called my mom just to ask where she was, she said that she was heading home, but something still felt off. After they got home, my mom approached me and said, “Joshua… I don't know how to tell you this… but Vanna…….” she trailed off and said, “she…she died, we had to put her down at 4 o'clock this morning. She was coughing and-.” I interrupted and said, “-yeah right, 🙄😑don’t joke about something like that. It’s just messed up, who does this to their kid? 😤” both my parents started to cry, and that's when I realized…. They weren't joking.
A couple months passed, and we had realized that we did say goodbye to Vanna and that she was at peace. So we thought about filling the hole in the family. And one day when I got home from school they both had huge smiles on their faces as they said that we were getting a puppy. I was so excited and we started thinking about names for the dog if it was a boy we thought: Bodie or Blueberry, and if it was a girl: Lola or Rose. After a few months it was finally time, so we went to get my dog. It was a beautiful sunny day and the light from the sun almost looked golden. When we arrived I immediately saw the one that I wanted. all the other cavoodles were biting each other and going crazy, but the little runt of the litter was right in the back staring at us with her eyes and wagging her little tail. The second we picked her up she started licking us and wagging her tail, and we knew that she was the one. My mom said that she would be the perfect “Rose”, but I disagreed, so I named her Lola.
In conclusion death is never good but it can always lead to more life. Lola is the best puppy I could ever ask for, but Vanna will always have a place in my heart.
