Her name was Jasmine. She had been with me my whole life. From playing in the grass to watching movies to eating dinner. She was always around. Until she got sick from kidney failure in the summer 2013. She wasn't herself, always sleeping and struggling to breath sometimes. I knew that she wasn't going to make it but I still held on to hope. After multiple doctor visits, shots, and medicine, I overheard my parents talking and my dad say “We're going to have to put her down, she’s suffering”.  After that I couldn’t hold myself together and ran to my room and cried my insides out, or that’s what it felt like. I then said a long prayer to God and hope she’d stop suffering. That night my prayers were answered and she died in her bed peacefully. She was no longer suffering and in a better place. I came into my parents room and my dad told me what happened and I accepted that and went to school. When I got home things weren't the same. No barking, no pitter patter of small feet, no nothing. It was dead silent. I realized that my parents were out side so I came to join them. A hole was dug at the edge of our prosperity. “Good I was just coming to get you” My mother said softly. Jasmine was in the hole with her favorite toys and bone. We stood around her saying our favorite memory.  I went last. “ My favorite memory is when we went on our first camping trip and she hiked up the sand dunes and went on trails with us. She never once seemed unhappy about it and I knew she loved it as much as I did. I remember she was rolling around in the sand, playing with a ball. We all were laughing and having fun.” Then the happiness left me and sadness rushed in like waves on a beach. The wind picked up and the trees swayed in the forest in front of us. I shed multiple tears on the dirt and on her. “I just didn’t want her to leave.” I said very softly.

After that my dad closed the casket and picked up the shovel and filled the hole. When I went inside I felt like I took a big punch in the gut. My chest felt empty and lonely.  This feeling stayed with me all through out 4th grade. Every day I would come home from school and it sounded so quiet, like a church.  I longed to hear her bark but I knew I would never hear it again. After several months,  I decided to look for a dog because I didn’t like this feeling of loneliness.  So, the next day, I went on the computer to look for a new friend.  I came across a Cavapoo and immediately fell in love with the breed.  I shared this with my parents and we researched it further.  After four months we brought home our new baby girl “Roxy”!