a girl's best friend

Welp.  I passed my first grad school exam on Thursday.  It was a big deal.  Today I just want to take a vacation.  And I have - mentally.

Which is why I'm not going to talk about school for the rest of this post.  Let's pretend together that it no longer exists - at least for the next few minutes.

I love dogs.

Have I told you that?

That dog [up there] is an English Springer Spaniel.  And his name is Casey.

Let me tell you how he became a member of my family.

Once upon a time, there was a little girl who had never really thought about dogs very much.  She didn't dislike them - she just didn't think about them either.  Then one day, her grandparents got a puppy named Zack.  And although the puppy tried to bite her toes and eat her belongings, the little girl fell madly in love with the puppy named Zack.

Because of her fondness for the puppy named Zack, the little girl began to have a fondness for all dogs.  It didn't matter to her how big or how little they were.  It didn't matter if they were brown or white or black.  If they had long fur or short fur.  The little girl did not discriminate.  She only knew that she suddenly - and completely - had fallen with any and all dogs.

The father of the little girl encouraged her obsession.  He told her stories of the dog he had when he was young.  He took her to dog fairs.  He even bought her a dog encyclopedia, which the little girl read religiously.  The little girl and her father would name the breeds of the dogs they saw on the street.  She would tell him all the things she'd learned about the breeds from her encyclopedia.

Consequently, one night, the little girl confided in her father that she wanted a dog - very badly.  He told her that right now it was not possible for her family, but that they might get one someday.

For five years, the little girl told her father every single night how badly she wanted a dog.

Every night, he told her that they might get one someday.

Finally, the family of the little girl moved away.  The little girl - who was not quite so little now - continued her nightly tradition of telling her father how badly she wanted a dog.  And, one night, he told her that her family was finally ready to get a dog.

The girl was ecstatic.

Her mother wanted a small dog with long hair.  Her father wanted a large dog with short hair.  The girl did not mind one way or the other.

Finally, the mother and father of the girl agreed on a breed they liked.  English Springer Spaniels.  A medium sized dog with medium sized hair.  It seemed a perfect match for the girl's family.

And so they started their search, eventually finding an ad in the paper for a 9-month-old English Springer Spaniel for free just two hours away from where the girl's family lived.

As the girl and her father drove the two hours, they discussed names ["Casey" was a favorite], sleeping arrangements for the dog [on the girl's bed], and who would be responsible for cleaning up after and feeding him [the girl was given this responsibility...though it never quite worked out that way].

Eventually, they neared the house.  As they drove up, the girl noticed the dog sitting on the porch with its then-owner.  Her heart constricted, and she instinctively knew that this dog would be a very important part of her life.  Then she got to meet him for the first time.  As she reached out to pet him, the timid dog leaned into her shyly.  The not-so-little girl knew she would never let him go.

And over the next few years, the dog named Casey became one of the girl's best friends.

As he remains to this day.

Who said dogs couldn't be girl's best friend?