Growing up, I have had multiple pets, from chickens to rabbits and even canary birds, believe it or not I even had a pet pigeon for a couple of years. Up to the age of 10, I remember never having a dog until December of 2016 when I turned 11 is when we had first gotten a dog. She was a terrier mix and my mom named her Chispa or as a nickname, Chispita. She was so well behaved and we took her everywhere, and I mean everywhere. She traveled to Chicago, Mexico, Atlanta, and to Guatemala six times. With her, I felt like I had become a dog person and truly had grown to love dogs over cats. Unfortunately, her time came and she passed away on June 8th, 2023. It was heart breaking, especially for my mom since she was more of a therapy dog for my mom. Honestly, I didn’t cry but it broke me to see my mom crying over the loss of our family pet. 

Around two weeks later on June 18th, 2023, we had decided to go out in search of another family pet since my mom was too distraught about the loss of Chispa. We found a puppy, she was very small and actually was the runt of the litter. We brought her home and named her Perla the pug, honestly she was the most adorable little thing in the world. I remember my dad instantly fell in love with her and she even went with us on our trip to Lake Tahoe. My dad and I mainly took care of her and bonded with her through cuddles and kisses, so rationally, Perla kind of got a liking to my dad and I rather than to my mom. This still hurt my mom since the dog was meant to be for her and was meant to be attached to my mom. 

I would’ve thought that with Perla I would have gotten attached and grown to be responsible with her. It wasn’t at all like that though, it was quite the opposite as it wasn’t me being responsible, but it was my dad. He used to not like dogs very much and never took much care of Chispa which is why she was my mom’s dog and was taken care of by my mom and I. But with Perla, something inside him switched and he became attached to her and up to this day, he completely spoils her and absolutely adores her. 

This is when Luna was introduced to my mom through a friend of hers that had heard how devastated my mom was because of the loss of her dog. I was home alone, when I got a call from my mom asking me to rush outside because there was a surprise for me and she needed me to pick it up. I remember the moment I ran out to the sidewalk I saw a lady with a fluffy puppy in her hands. My mom was crying in excitement over the phone and told me to take her inside the house to meet Perla. I took this small little puppy in my hands and noticed how fluffy and soft she was. She was all black, with some brown patches on her chest and her feet were like brown socks. I sent like 20 pictures to my mom of this fluffy thing just sitting on my chair staring at me. My mom was so rushed to get home that she even finished up early and I swear she was home in a blink of an eye. When she picked up the fluffy little thing, she cried of excitement and hugged it and swore to never let go of her. She did eventually let go of it, stared deep into its eyes and said “Se llamara Luna, sus ojos me recuerda a la Luna” (Her name will be moon, her eyes remind me of the moon). 

Luna became extremely attached to my mom, meaning I had to sort of respect that and let their bond grow since my mom needed her the most. I never truly was able to make a connection with either dog, and just accepted that since I knew it was best for my parents to have a companion. It didn’t bother me at all but I did wish I could have a best buddy by my side. 

Then, around a year later, in April is when my sister got the news that one of her friends’ cats had kittens. Her friend needed to look for homes for these kittens and I guess my sister thought of me. My sister called me on April 28th around 5pm, she asked me if I wanted a kitten and I obviously said yes instantly. At 7:39pm, I had a tuxedo kitten in my room being spoon fed by my mom. I remember that afternoon, I was so excited to come up with a name for him and I even called my sister and we had a whole debate on what his name would be. I wanted to name him Penguin and she wanted to name him Oreo. We ended up having to do a coinflip to decide his name, ultimately I won the coinflip. My mom was there just listening to us argue over the name. She laughed at us and told us we were acting like little kids. She was very excited about the name of the kitten and instantly wanted to go to the pet store to pick up toys, food, a collar, and even a cat tree. I recall having to convince her that it was too late to be going to the pet store and that they had probably already closed. She just looked at me with disappointment. 

I will forever remember these initial moments with Penguin. They were honestly like a fever dream. 

Recently though, I’ve been reflecting on how my life has changed ever since he came into my life. I’ve come to realize that he truly did change my life even if it wasn’t a huge noticeable change. Even though a cat, he has helped me become more responsible and has helped me grow as a person. I look at him as if he were my son, I always make sure to take good care of him and to give him lots of attention and love. He has helped me open up my heart to the responsibility of taking care of “someone,” even though he isn’t a real person but just a cat.