That’s right. I said four. She’s a Yorkshire terrier named Ellie Belle Glenn, and she is just over four months old. I know that there are dog appreciation posts all over this site and pretty much every other but this is not one of them. Yes, I love and appreciate my sweet pup, but this is so much more than that. If you're just here for the puppy pics: See bottom of the article.

I suffer with terrible social anxiety that can vary in severity from day to day. Some days it is much easier for me to get out of bed and go about my day as anyone else would and others leave me bed ridden for the majority of the day. It’s difficult to say what causes my anxiety because it never seems to be the same thing every time I have a panic attack. Now at the beginning of this year, my anxiety really started to increase in severity. Working in a customer facing environment that leaves me on camera all day long made it hard for me tohide my anxiety and still perform my duties to reach the expectations I and my managers have set for me.

I spent the first few months of this year in a constant state of worry about what I was going to do about my job if I couldn’t get my anxiety under control. That is, until February 6th.

Rewind just a bit. After almostfive yearstogether my husband David finally cracked. He gave up the long fight with me and finally broke down. Just before Christmas he told me that I had the go ahead to commit to buying a puppy from the litter one of my friends from high school’s dog was having. I was speechless and screaming for joy all at the same time.

My family has owned Yorkies for as long as I can remember, and I knew when I moved out and got married I wanted one of my own. But when I fell in love with an allergy-ridden guitar player who was allergic to more things than he wasn’t, I thought my dream had died. Luckily for me, Yorkie puppies don’t shed or have dander and happen to be the cutest things on the planet, so after much convincing and puppy dog faces (pun intended) I convinced David to take the plunge.

On February 6^th mylife changed. We picked up Ellie from her mommy at 11 a.m. that morning, and my life hasn’t been the same since. From the second I held her I knew that I was meant to be her mommy. She just instantly calmed me. I felt instantly protective of this little two-pound fluffy jelly bean.

Her tiny nub of a tail wagging and ears flapping during her first romp through the grass with David and I melted my heart instantly. Every day since then if I am ever feeling overwhelmed or out of control I spend a few minutes playing with Ellie and everything just feels like it’s going to be okay.

She saved me. And still does every day.

Mommy lovesyou, Ellie Belle.