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All my life, I've desired to have a dog that loves me the best out of everyone else. Our first dog was mean, but I was incredibly persistant in attempting to get her to love me. But the best I could do was get her to tolerate me, and she saved all of her love for my dad. A few months after she died, I asked for a puppy for Christmas. It was to be my puppy, so obviously she would know that and love me for it, right? Nope, she loved my mom. She liked me very much and was always very sweet to me, but she was my mom's dog from beginning to end. And so, I never did get to experience what it was like to have a dog love me the best.

But now, I have a little puppy that wiggles like crazy when she hears my voice, snuggles in tightly next to me when she goes to sleep, and cries when I'm not there to play with her. And I love it a lot. But I've learned a few things.

First of all, a dog loves best the person who puts the most time and effort into taking care of it. To have Gracie love me, I have to put up with all the bad in addition to the good. And quite frankly, I am tired of picking up her poop. I have never cleaned up so much poop in my life. It's gross. And I am also tired of playing. Play, play, play. Biting bears and pouncing on coke bottles just isn't how I always want to spend my free time. It gets a little old.

Second of all, I don't like that she doesn't love Tom as much as she does me, because I remember what it felt like to not be loved best. I want her to love Tom just as much as she loves me, so he doesn't have to feel like he's in second place. Being loved best just doesn't feel as good as I thought it would, because I can't indulge in the selfishness of it without feeling bad.

So, after all my years of wanting a dog to love me best, I think I've decided that the best thing would be to have a dog love everyone equally. But I would probable find something wrong with that scenario as well. The grass is always greener on the other side. So for now I'll just enjoy my little puppy's love and keep on cleaning up her poop.