It was a typical summer day, sunlight shining through the closed blinds of my friend’s apartment. I was in the bathroom brushing my hair, I could hear the knots untangle as I brush through my luscious locks. My mom had come in the apartment, I could hear her already come in because my friends apartment was small, and had thin walls it was like a tiny maze. When she walked into the bathroom, I knew she had something to tell me because when I looked at her face I saw excitement. She said we got a dog!

My friend ran downstairs and went to go see him so I did too. When I went to my mom’s car I saw him, my brother said,
“Look we got a dog!”  Kona was a tan/beige with a big oval weird white mark on his nose it was like an hourglass.  He was so cute and when I would touch his soft puppy fur, it felt like a warm silk blanket. When we first got him he wasn't potty trained and he also was the runt of the puppies. I would always talk to him as if he was a baby I would say,

“Oh, thats a good boy, yes you are…” I wonder if he understood me at all

When we first brought him home we were walking him up to our house. He had looked like a reflective, neon yellow badge in the dark, starry night, so golden. When he got in the house the first thing he did was get his jaw stuck in our table.  When he went outside he would lick his own pee and he would  run into our walls. He would bark a lot, it was so loud and harsh.  We loved him for him even if he was one of the stupidest/smartest dogs, I had ever met and had.

When he got older he would sleep with me, because frankly, I was Obviously his favorite. He would always  play fetch with himself, but then I felt bad and played with him. We would have to walk Kona late at night when there wasn’t any dogs around because he would flip out, as if he was a Gymnast. One time there was a dog when I was walking him and somehow he was pulling so hard he broke the leash and ran off after it, I had to run home, when I got inside my house I yelled,

“Corbyn! Kona got off the leash!”   Then I grabbed a hot dog and lured him back to my house. Another time Kona ran away and didn’t come back after a whole night and day, I was so sad and worried, My mom said,

“ He will come back, I know he will” I replied in a monotone voice,

“Are you sure?!” and he came back at four in the morning, He was pawing at the back door as if nothing happened. I was relieved and happy

Another time I was going to let him in after letting him out to go to the bathroom, and noticed he had mated with another dog in our backyard I yelled, “Mom!” my mom came outside . The female dog was so terrified, she ran away, as fast as lightning  and injured Kona.  Then we found the dog and returned it to its owner, which happened to be my mom’s, boyfriend’s, ex-girlfriend’s mom’s dog. Then two months later, or something like that, Lucy was pregnant. I remember sometimes Kona and Lucy would run off together, I could see her get bigger and bigger each time. Every time I would say Lucy, Kona would tilt his head to the side and get excited, it was like he was about to get millions of treats . Later that year an accident happened and we had to put  Kona down, It was the most depressing, devastating time in my life,  . I remember picking him up from the shelter, I saw his lifeless body, my heart had shattered in millions of pieces and couldn’t catch up with reality and realize that he was gone. everytime after that, I would think of him I would cry.  R.I.P Kona ?

In the end, I have learned to cherish things while they last. I know that from the first day we got Kona until the last day, hour, second was one of the happiest moments of my life and I would always think, How long would  Kona live? and  What If what time he got out and never came back? But now I know just live in the moment.