All Dogs Go to Heaven

Last Thursday, September 25th 2015, my family lost our beloved Dolly.

I've never experienced a loss of a loved one, I was blessed with such a thing. But it is only now that the days have passed that I realized how much my little viejita (old lady) meant to me.

We got Dolly when she was 8 weeks old and we lost her 13 years later. Now, my entire family knew that her time was coming, she couldn't hear well, she couldn't really smell well either and her eyes were looking hollow. Sometimes we'd come back from an outing and she wouldn't notice that we were back until she saw us standing there. But man, no one was ready to let her go. Because I've said the story one too many times- we lost her to a coyote, by no means was the coyote wrong- after all she was in their territory but it's the cruel nature of it that made it that much worse.

Thursday night I cried for her, for the thought of her being gone. But Friday morning I went out to see if I could find any remains, and all that was left of her were the hair balls scattered a couple of houses down. And then it hit me. Dolly is gone forever.

My viejita is still with me. I can remember the first night she spent with us- she was crying at my bed and I woke up my mom to ask if she could sleep on my bed for just one night, in her last months she could no longer jump onto my bed and feared getting down. I can tell you how she passed away with quite little emotion on my face, I've made myself immune to the imagination of her last moments here on this Earth. But man can I tell you, you never realize how much you love something until it's gone. 

Thursday night I came home and she wagged her tail at me, I scolded her and told her "if you think I'm gonna go over and rub your belly after my long day, you're crazy!" And those were my last words to her. Now I only wish that I could rub her belly, or take her out on the walk that I always thought would be too tough for her.

Dolly, here's to the memories and childhood you left me. To the times you ran out when me and dad were running late to school, to the albums and bibles you chewed up, to the many road trips you spent with us in the backseat, to the holidays were we had to have a picture with you and the family, to meeting our new baby sister, to the times you comforted us with your presence when we were home alone, Dolly you take with you a huge part of my childhood, but you will never ever be replaced mi viejita. I'll be wishing you could annoy me just once more, that I could come home to look for you, or to hear your breath at my door, of one thing I'm sure Dolly:

All Dogs Go to Heaven

Inglés

English major.

Why?

I can't exactly put into words but I'll try.

English is my second language, I am fluent in Spanish primarily and then English, but why did I choose to change to an English major? 

I have a few points.

First off, I wanted to show that it is possible for a non-native speaker to master this language.

Second, I've always loved creative writing--even though I have lost my practice with it.

Third, I want to help people--especially teenagers and adults-- lose their fear of this language. I know one too many people that absolutely hate anything to do with the English subject. Especially with those whom had a different first language. But I want to help people use their words on paper to transmit the intelligence, ideas, and emotion that lie within. I feel I have a gift of helping people improve their writing and I want to do just that. 

Fourth, in high school I thought about this career path but chose to stick to my other calling (child development) because I didn't feel like radon old English for years. Now, I know that English has become more than just Anglo-Saxon literature, English has expanded it's wings. Along with that, I don't have to have a plan for a huge novel or be a poet to pursue English.

I guess this is a shorter post than the prior, but it means a lot to me to have changed my major, and this is a short glimpse as to why. 

The Beginning

So, this is the first I guess official post. I've never posted before but I decided to start up something new. I figured I wanted to start taking note of exciting events and have decided to take Tuesdays to do so, as of now it should work out quite well- and I want to cover Wednesday- Tuesday.

But first! 

I am currently a 21 year old college student, and I believe I just may be in love with the man of my life, I have 2 little sisters, and I'm currently an English major. So like I've said before- I'm not sure what the point of this blog is  but I'm hoping it'll include some of my happy adventures, small moments, and some insight as to who I am or why I am.

I have to begin the blog with some sort of post right? This is me and my boyfriend at Disneyland this past Friday, for Dapper Day. I'll begin by saying that this man has truly challenged, and changed the way I thought about love and a significant other- but in the strengthening positive way. So let me tell you about us.

We "met" each other online, of course that's still a bit taboo so only a few people know the true story. I went on this website because let's face it- I wasn't meeting anybody, not that I had bad luck, but considering I was unemployed at the time and I've never clicked with people at school I never even got far enough to be "talking to someone." So I joined just to mess around and talk to people and maybe go on dates. As any woman would know, men just flood in. One of the first things that stood out to me about this handsome man was the first line he spoke to me. Well, maybe second. I'm sure he said Hi Maria, or something along those lines-- and then I must've responded with something simple, and then he asked me where I was from. And right off I thought, hmm how strange- he didn't tell me to talk about myself, or my age/school, any of those typical online first questions.

We talked for a couple of weeks online, and we talked about so much that I only wish I could remember half of the things we did talk about. I do remember we talked about our favorite artists and surprisingly he knew of David Cook and that took me by surprise. He also told me about this painting that he loves, that I haven't forgotten about.

Then I grew tired of waiting to go online to check if he had responded, so I suggested texting and he agreed, thank me for the suggestion since he didn't want to ask about it for the fear that he would be creepy. 

Somehow, we agreed to meet the Wednesday before my birthday (which would mean, October 30th or so). I was a bit nervous but not freaking out completely, and then he told me his tire had blown out. I FREAKED! Why? Well because I had never really met him, so for all I knew this could be some sort of catfish thing. He apologized and offered to take me out on my  birthday- which I had to turn down because I usually end up doing something with my family.

So our first date was the day after my 21st birthday, November 7th 2013. I got ready and only two people knew where I was going- my sister and friend, Dulce. So I specified to tell me when he was here so he wouldn't awkwardly bump into my dad. 

The second I walked outside I had this HUGE smile on my face-- I mean I could feel my jaw hurting already. As soon as we were face to face, he bowed and greeted me with "My Princess," since that is what he called me over the phone. And then we went in for a hug. We started driving and neither one knew what to do, I hadn't eaten all day but I sure wasn't hungry. So he offered to take me to Build-A-Bear since it was something I had mentioned I wanted for my birthday. So that was our first date, building a bear whose name became Jordan, and Julio chose the name, he sleeps with me every night and goes with me whenever I know I won't be home that night. After that, our nerves had calmed down enough to go eat something. We went to BJ's where I ordered my first legal alcohol beverage! As we walked out, he finally held my hand. *He later explained to me why he waited so long, and he still remembers the spot where he went for it*

So then what comes next? The movie.

Except for sitting in his car, looking up the movie showings for Thor, I realized I didn't want to go sit in a dark crowded room for my remaining hours with him. I wanted to be with him. So I told him I didn't want a movie and to go up to some spot to just hang out.

We went up behind my house to a hike my dad always mentioned but I had never been on. It was quite a hike I won't lie, I was using my phone's flashlight to be guided and when we got to the top it was beautiful! It was a small town's city lights and truly breathtaking with that November chill. We talked about so much, our parents, our siblings, spankings and such. I kept re-positioning myself hoping he'd kiss me, but the man wouldn't! *Later, I found out he didn't want to kiss me because he didn't want me to think he was moving too fast, since he thought me to be very traditional* Finally, he kissed me, and I remember the conversation that led up to it was along the lines of me telling him "You don't have to be perfect to be exactly what someone needs." 

So then I'm sure we kissed for a bit and then finally came down, and he dropped me off at my house- by this time it was probably near midnight and he still had to drive back home for an hour, on a windy road.

I waited up for him to get home where we still texted for a bit- talking about our night and how we were feeling. The next time we see each other, he officially asks me to be his girlfriend-- a cute story I shall save for another post. 

But there you have it little humans, the story of my first date with the man and love of my life :)

And just for some comparison- here's our first picture together taken November 20th, the day I met all of his family and we went to my sister's band competition with my family, 10 months after it's crazy to see how far we've come.