April seventeenth was a cold and rainy day, and I was eagerly counting down the minutes.  Eleven o’clock was the goal, and it felt like the time refused to change.  Thirty minutes felt like a lifetime, and I was not willing to wait.  I watched as the rain fell from the sky, and dripped off the trees, in an attempt to take my mind off of the passing time.  Puddles began to form on the ground, and around the car, but all I could think about was the time.  Hoping to see that time had passed, I would quickly shift my attention from the outside world to the little green numbers, only to have to look away disappointed.  My mom noticed what I was doing and said, “We should listen to some music to take our minds off of everything.”

My brother, Jaxon, and I nodded in agreement and then he asked, “Can we listen to some of your CDs, Mom?”
“Of course,” she said as she rifled through the glove compartment.  She unzipped the little white case and picked out one of her favorite discs.  In a few moments, Jimmy Buffett’s song “Cheeseburger in Paradise” was pouring from every speaker in the car.  While we were all singing the songs, and having fun, I was not worrying about how much time had passed, until I saw another car pull into the parking lot.  Instead of sitting in the car, these people jumped out with their umbrellas and ran to the front door.  It was not eleven o’clock yet, so we didn’t know what to do.  After about five minutes of discussion, we too were jumping out of the car with our umbrellas and running to the front door.  The sidewalk leading up to the door was nearly flooded.  Luckily my mom and I wore our rain boots and could easily tromp through the water without hesitation.  Unfortunately, my dad and Jaxon were in tennis shoes, and were forced to stop running and inch around the water.  Once we all made it to the door with dry or semi-dry feet, we walked inside.

The room was fairly large with white walls, some round wooden tables and chairs, a long front desk, and a least three cat cages scattered about.  We walked up to one of the volunteers that was standing behind the front desk and my dad stated, “We are here to pick up a dog named Sinji.”

The lady asked, “What is your name?”

My dad replied, “My name is David and my wife’s name is Kristie.”

“One moment please,” she said as she typed something on the computer and skimmed their database.  “Ah, there she is. I’ll go get here ready,” she exclaimed giddily.

One of the other ladies that was working behind the desk looked at my soon to be dog’s profile and said with a chuckle, “Oh, she got big.”

I quickly glanced at my dad and noticed the look on his face.  He was nervous. The lady noticed the look on his face too and exclaimed, “You saw those feet the last time you were here!”

“I know, I know,” he defended.

***

A fifteen pound, two month old puppy stole my heart on March 13, 2016.  She was brown, black, and white, and had the cutest little face.  The tip of her extremely long tail was white, and a few of her toes were too.  She had really long legs and enormous fluffy feet.  When she walked, her floppy ears bounced and flapped with every step.  Every time she tried to run, her clumsy legs would cause her to fall down, so her favorite thing to do was army crawl.  If you didn’t pay enough attention to her, she would crawl over to you and bite your pant legs.  When we walked her around the outside-area of the shelter, she would grab the leash and proudly try to walk herself.  After playing with the little puppy for ten minutes, the volunteer lady asked us, “So, what do y’all think about her?”

Jaxon and I quickly responded, “We love her so much!  Look how cute her little face is! Isn’t it adorable how clumsy she is?  Can we get her, PLEASE!”

My dad turned to the lady and said with a chuckle, “Well, at this point, I would be about the meanest person on earth to say no.”

Jaxon and I yelled, “Oh my gosh!  Thank you, thank you, thank you so much, Dad!”

The volunteer looked at us and warned us, “Y’all know she is going to be a very big dog that needs a lot of love and care, right?”

I was barely listening at that point and responded to her question with the biggest smile across my face, “Yes, ma’am! I will love her with all of my heart, no matter what.”

***

My mom turned to Jaxon and I and said, “Why don’t y’all go look around a little bit?  I have a feeling this might take a while.”

We walked over to the nearest cage and saw a really fat cat lying inside.  This cat was so chubby that it looked as if it had melted into a fluffy, orange and white puddle.  According to the pamphlet hanging from the cage, this cat’s name was Garfield. He was severely obese, and on a strict diet.  It also stated that his new owner would have to limit treats, and extra food,and exercise him daily.  Once we read that, Jaxon and I had a long discussion about how someone would properly exercise a cat. 

After a while, the sense of time started to bother me again.  I had been waiting to meet my new dog for at least thirty minutes and had nothing else to do except sit and think about the time.  While in deep thought about what time was, where it went once it was gone, and the purpose of it passing, my mom broke the trance and told me that it was almost time to take home my new best friend.  Suddenly, we heard the sound of a heavy door being opened.  This could only mean one thing: the time had come.  Then, I saw a large, black and white, fluffy object racing towards me.  Once she had successfully dragged the volunteer that was handling her to us, she jumped up like she was trying to give me a hug.  I turned to my mom and said, “I didn’t think she would remember me.”
My mom replied, “Well, it looks like she remembers you and has been waiting for you to come back and take her home.”

In a flash, this large four-month-old dog jumped up and tore open the bag that was holding her food.  As her food rained onto the floor, she gobbled it up as fast as she could.  Acting like Pacman, she weaved through our legs and licked up each piece of food until all of it was gone.  Then, I picked her up and held her in my arms.  In this moment, I knew that I had found my best friend.

***

Today, Clover is a ten-month-old, seventy pound puppy, who has a heart of gold.  Her favorite thing to do is give kisses, hugs, and even sleep in your lap.  We go on walks, do homework, and take naps together.  She is truly my best friend and I would not trade her for the world.