I stared at the clock, watching as every second and minute went by. As each hour passed, my excitement level continued to build. I was so excited that I even had trouble falling asleep that night. Since I couldn’t get any sleep, I continued to stare at the clock in my room as the minutes continued to pass. For the past several years of my life, I had been hoping and waiting for the time that I could finally get a dog. We were at the dinner table the night before we were supposed to pick up my dog and then my dad got a phone call from the breeder telling him that they did not want to sell the dog to us anymore. My family was shocked about what had just happened. I did not know it at the time, but the events of day would teach me that even if a situation looks bad at first, if you persevere, it will improve.

I wanted a dog since I was a very young child. However, my parents were not ready for a pet so I just had to be patient. I had always loved dogs and enjoyed playing with them. Finally, after years of waiting, my parents said that we could start looking at dogs. After spending countless hours looking at many different dogs in person and online, we finally found one that we thought would be a great fit in our family. When I first picked him he fit in the palm of my hand, as tiny as a mouse. As I touched his fur, could not help but think that it was as soft as silk. The breeder told me that he was a Havanese, otherwise known as a “Havana Silk dog”.  His eyes were as black as coal; and when he looked at me I knew that he was begging me to take him home.  My brother and I were in love. After several weeks of asking my parents, and 2 visits to the Havanese breeder,  they agreed and said that we could get the dog.

I was very excited the day before we were going to pick up the dog, until my dad walked into the kitchen with a upset look on his face and said “Benny and Harry I have some bad news. I just got off the phone with the breeder and they said that they did not want to sell us the dog because they claimed that they did not feel we would take care of him.” 

“But we are very responsible and I am sure that we would do fine with the dog,” I replied.

“ I know,” said my Dad “ However, I guess they do not feel that way. We will try and find another dog from a different breeder that we can get.”

“But I want that one,” I said.

“I know, I’m sorry” answered my Dad.

I was devastated. I ran up to my room screaming, I slammed the door shut and buried myself under the covers of my bed.  After years of waiting for my parents to let me get a dog, I did not think that a breeder was going to prevent me from getting the dog I loved. I thought that I would never get a dog because it had taken so long to find one dog that would fit in our family, how could we possibly find another one. However, later that night my parents came up to my room and told me that they were able to talk to the breeder and they agreed to let us get the dog again. We woke up early next morning, and left to pick up the dog in Lansing, Michigan. I stared out the window of the car watching every mile sign we passed as we made our way to the breeder’s house. Could this really be happening, was I actually about to get a dog, I thought to myself. Finally, after a long time in the car, we arrived at the breeder's house and finally adopted the dog that I wanted. I knew the first time I saw him that I wanted to name him Franklin because since I was little I always wanted a dog named Franklin.

Shortly after we adopted Franklin, we learned from the veterinarian that the dog had a parasite.  We figured this was why the breeder did not originally want to sell the dog to us: the breeder knew the dog was sick and was concerned we would either return the dog or ask the breeder to pay his medical expenses.

The day I adopted Franklin taught me that I should not get extremely upset when something bad happens. Instead, I should look on the bright side and be patient because the situation will get better it may just take sometime. Even though I did not expect those 2 days to go from very happy to miserable back to very happy, that time did teach me to appreciate my dog more now than I would've if I had just gotten him without any of those events occurring.