To my two dogs,

Of course you won't be able to read this. You have no concept of reading or the Internet, let alone why your big sister is gone more than half the year. How I seem to come back at odd times smelling like stress and unwashed hair. How I only come around when it's the coldest and warmest parts of the year and you both are either sporting new haircuts.

You mean more to me than I give you both credit for and have been a part of so many crucial moments in my life. The days when I played catch with Dad and you both were there rolling in the grass. Or the days when you both were always in the kitchen because you smelled the food cooking and I almost tripped over you with a plate in my hand. And when I got my first iPod and I made cheesy videos of us listening to the Jonas Brothers.

Those are days I miss. You won't understand it, but I'm in college, and being in college means you sacrifice some things in order to gain others. And one of the things I've had to sacrifice is you both.

Sure, I still see you every time I go back. Your tails are still wagging and barks fill the rooms as I come heaving my bags in. But something is different about it all. All three of us have grown up. I've changed in ways I can't explain, and I've watched as you two have grown older with me. Time has a funny way of going faster as we grow, and it's bittersweet to think how much has changed since I first got you both.

I miss seeing you every day. When I walk around campus and notice people walking their dogs, it makes me clench up because I suddenly realize that I have two dogs back home who miss me as much as I miss them. It is never my intention to forget you, but I am so busy that my focus isn't on home, and so I lose track of it all.

I don't have any pet waiting for me back at my place, no furry friend to cuddle while watching Netflix or do fun activities with. While it doesn't mean I'm going to replace you, it simply means that I don't have that same comfort in college that you both brought me.

I would love nothing more than to bring you here, but I know Mom wouldn't approve. Trust me when I say people of all sorts would come up and talk just to have an excuse to pet you.

Before I get too ahead of myself, I'd just like to say thank you. Thank you for all the times you showered my face with kisses or ripped apart every plastic toy we gave you. For the fact that you both don't like thunderstorms or will bite at the wind that blows past your whiskers. Or that whenever me and Mom are watching a TV show, one of you is always under the coffee table next to the lounge chair, just as anxious as we were.

Thank you for being your cute, weird and fluffy selves. There are no other dogs on earth that I'd flap the ears of or lay down on the floor with, heads touching, as you try to fall asleep. Thank you for being there even when you didn't realize it.