Day 8: Something I Miss

I used to think I was a cat person. In fact, I was rather avid about not being around dogs. My mom's dogs eventually grew on me, but in general, I wanted nothing to do with them.

Then came Jade.

Jade came into my life one Christmas afternoon. One of my cousins arrived at grandma and grandpa's house carrying the sweetest black puppy and saying she needed a home. My brother was ready to take her in a heartbeat. Only problem was that he was supposed to be moving in with me within the next few months. And like I said, I was a cat person.

But Derrick wanted her so badly. And she really, really needed a home, so I gave in and within a few months Derrick and Jade moved in with Esther and me.

It didn't take long for me to fall head over heels in love with Jade. And Jade grew up viewing me as "mommy" (dogs don't understand human relations, so it didn't bother me to think of her daddy as Derrick and me as her mommy). I was even the one to take her through obedience school.

When Jeff and I got engaged, Derrick and I discussed our living arrangement. Obviously, things would have to change. Derrick was in a situation that called for him to move before my wedding, so I was going to be left in my apartment without a roommate and without the dogs for a couple of months. Derrick knew how hard it was for me to let Jade go, and he couldn't afford the pet deposit at his new place quite yet, so we agreed that Jade would stay with me for a little longer (Derrick was only moving around the corner, so it wasn't like he would be far from his girl).

Unfortunately, my landlord didn't feel this was a reasonable situation. For whatever reason, he had taken a disliking to Derrick and Jade's anti-social personality made him scared of her, so he insisted that since Derrick moved out, his dog had to go too. He even threatened my uncle's job if he didn't get her out NOW!

I cried so hard when I realized there was no way around it. It was the first time that Jeff saw me cry in our dating history. He had a hard time understanding (he's a cat person, without question).

I've started to get used to the quiet of not having the dogs here, but not a day goes by when I don't think to myself "I miss Jade so much!" Sometimes Jeff will take pity on me and let me bring her over to play for a few hours. Whenever she sees me, she gets so excited and my heart breaks every time I have to take her home. I won't even go over to Derrick's unless I intend to bring Jade back with me because I can't stand to see those sad, confused, brown eyes staring at me as I walk out the door without her. I miss her so much!