Back in January of 2018, I was going through one of the hardest break ups I've gone through. My family started to realize it affected my mood and how I was around the house. I remember waking up every day and just having no energy to get up and out of bed. I just sat in my bedroom all day and watched the people walk by outside my window while listening to every song on the album Blonde by Frank Ocean.

My parents were talking about getting another dog for our 2-year-old puppy, Maggie, because our other dog, Sophie, was getting too old to run around and play with Maggie. We found a puppy from this organization called Love of Labs. She was from a litter of golden labs called the spice puppies. Her name was Rosemary and she was the sweetest thing ever. The litter of pups lost their Mom after birth so about half the pups were bottle fed, and the other half were tube fed. Rosemary was the runt of the litter and was growing slower than her brothers and sisters, so she was tube fed for the longest.

At first, I thought my parents weren't going to be able to get her because the adoption process was taking a long time and the organization had 2 other families not including my family to pick who is the best fit for Rosemary's new home. But, one special Monday night my parents came home with this adorable puppy named Rosemary that we ended up renaming Callie. I fell in love with our adorable new member of the family.

An agreement was set between me and my parents that I would have to take care of Callie. I was old enough that she was my responsibility, I was the one to take her out at 2AM, give her 2 meals a day and take her on walks. With her being my obligation, I learned a lot from her as she learned from me. She became my best friend and the reason to get out of bed every morning.

It's funny how something as little and precious as an 8-week-old puppy, can make such an impact on me. Her persistence to keep going and always wanting to play and have fun is what helped me get out of my hard time. There was never a time to not laugh or smile with Callie.

I am now in college and it was weird not having her there for me through this weird transition. She's always there for me when I was sad or when I needed to be sad, she would lay with me, and just knowing she's laying with me, makes me feel a little less alone.

Now when I go home, she is so excited to see me and just tackles me with excited and covers my face with puppy kisses. Having Callie in my life makes my world brighter and helps me keep a smile on my face. Callie has given me a new perspective on life.