As me and my family sat around what was originally a normal dinner, my mom pulled a piece of paper folded way too many times out of her pocket. Looks of suspicion and ,confusion filled me and my sibling's faces. My dad sat at the head of the table with some sort of smirk on his face and my mom the same. They looked at each other and giggled as my mom unfolded the piece of paper. Slowly Molly, Owen, Emily and I waited patiently with our butts off the seats of our dining room table chairs. We continued to lean closer and closer not taking our eyes off the paper. Finally, it was open but my mom held it tight against her chest.

“Really mom,” I said “Ugh” sitting back in my seat with my arms crossed.
“Yea! Cmon…” Molly screamed.
“It’s just not even funny that you're not letting us see the paper,”  Emily said rolling her eyes with tremendous amounts of sass.
My mom flipped over the paper with a huge smile. We all sat there confused just staring at the photo as her and my father laughed.

“Don’t you guys see it, its a puppy. YOU ARE GETTING A PUPPY!” My dad said with so much enthusiasm. Molly began to cry with joy, Emily got up and sprinted around the kitchen, Owen was shocked, to say the least, and I just stared at the picture laying on the table in front of me. The tag on his collar said Bosco and the details listed below said he was a male Jack Russell terrier with black wire hair. My heartfelt full just looking at the little face on the puppy that would soon be mine. No moment would ever feel so amazing, exciting, and overall joyful all at the same time again.

My family and I waited 6 weeks for a woman named Gail to finally drop our puppy off at its soon to be home. I remember calling her at least once a week with my siblings asking questions and seeing how Bosco was. We would hover over the phone at the end of dinner and just listen to her ramble on and on about how well trained and friendly our dog was.

March 3rd rolled around and my family stood watching out the front door waiting for Gail to pull down the cul-de-sac with Bosco. He already felt like a part of the family with his fluffy blue bed inside his crate set up. We also got him a huge bowl of treats and a basket full of brand new toys from Petco. My mom would not let us run up to the van when it pulled in the driveway so we waited and waited and waited some more until Gail got to the door holding Bosco. We swung the door open and welcomed her inside with no hesitation. Gail immediately handed Bosco to my mom, he was sleeping like a baby and just curled up right against her. The smile on my moms face only grew bigger and fourteen years later I can still remember it. After hours of all of my older siblings holding Bosco, it was finally my turn. Nothing beats the memory of him sitting with me on the couch for the first time wrapped in the fluffy blanket that I bought just for him, his hair so soft and silky, his paws fit in the palm of my hand and I just held on to them with no intention of letting go.

The joy Bosco brought my family from the first day we got him until this day has never changed. No matter what he did, whether he jumped up on the dinner table and ate our food, peed on the rug, or curled up in a ball and watched a movie with us he remained lovable. He was the type of dog everyone asked to pet and hold because he was adorable and easy to approach. No dog was better than Bosco. I mainly felt attached to him because he really grew up with me. Even after all of my siblings left for college, he was still here at home in Wyckoff with me. He slept at the bottom of my bed every night with the same blue and white striped fluffy blanket from the day he came home. He made sure to wake me up in the morning for school. He would come into my room when he sensed I felt sad. Bosco knew when I needed him, he was the best and most important friend I have ever had.
Unfortunately, dogs do age. Families always think of their dogs as little puppies that never change but they do get old. With age, Bosco developed a form of cancer that created tumors in his liver. We began to see this about 4 months ago when he lost an unhealthy amount of weight and could not move as swiftly as he did previous to cancer. Bosco could no longer get up the stairs or jump into my bed on his own. Seeing him in pain made my whole family upset and stressed. We did not want to let him go but we did not want to see him live the last few weeks of his life in pain.

The night before my parents decided it was time to put Bosco down they told to me to say my last goodbyes. At this point, Bosco had no life in him which made saying bye even harder. I carried him into my room and wrapped him up in his favorite fuzzy blanket that he chewed a hole in. I held him close to my heart and let the tears roll out of my eyes, I told him I loved him repeatedly. We sat together for a few hours before I brought him downstairs to my mom so she could have her moments with him as well. After spending the night snuggled in my room with Bosco I carried him downstairs to my mom in the blanket so he could still have it. I know the blanket comforts him and I wanted him to wake up with it in the morning like he did previously.

The next day Bosco did not wake me up for school and my parents brought him to the vet after dropping me off. Bosco was gone, my little puppy was gone. I had never had never lost something or someone so important to me before in my life. When I got home from school that day I immediately went up to my room and saw the blanket on my bed where it usually was. My parents saved me the blanket that they brought him to the vet in. I would now always have a piece of him with me at night.

My whole family was in distraught over the idea of Bosco being gone but we came together as a family to wrap our minds around what happened. We read an article online that said “people are born so that they can learn how to live a good life like loving everybody all the time and being nice. Well, dogs already know how to do that, so they don't have to stay as long”. This piece comforted us all as we got through the passing of our beloved Bosco. The way my family came together at the loss of something that previously brought happiness and warmth to our house was truly breathtaking. We all felt the same way and shared that with each other in order to help each other. I will forever love Bosco and I will forever love what he has done to bring my relationship with my family closer together during his life and after his death.