My Hero

The car rolled into the driveway, gravel crunching underneath the wheels. I impatiently waited to see the puppies. Coming to a stop, my sister, mom, and I eagerly jumped out of the car. When we got to the house the lady appeared and welcomed us. She showed us the litter of puppies. I could not contain my excitement. But which puppy should be brought home? They were all so precious, how could we choose? As we looked at the puppies, one caught our eye. Her fur was dark as night, her small ears flopped over, the tips of her too large for her paws were painted white, and on her front chest was a patch of white fur that formed the shape of a heart. We knew she was the one.

Now almost four years later that little puppy is all grown up and her name is Hero, named after a character in a Shakespeare play. It is hard to think of a time without Hero, it seems like we’ve always had her. When we got her, it was the summer of twenty-twenty and she was one of the best things that happened to me during that time. Although it took a lot of patience to train her as a little puppy it was all worth it in the end.

It is hard to describe Hero because there is so much to her. If you heard me talking about her you would hear me saying, “Oh Hero you are so weird,” and then saying, “You are literally my favorite dog.” But really, she is both. One second, she’ll have a silly little smile on her face, usually meaning she is all wound up, another second, she’ll be nudging her nose up against my hand so I will pet her, and yet some other times she’ll be sprawled on her back in her bed with paws sticking straight in the air.

I was out of town a few weeks ago and it felt so weird to be away from Hero, I kept waiting for her to prance into the room, but she never did. Being away from her made me realize what a big impact she has had on my life. When I come home, I can count on her running out to greet me. Her goofy little smile always brings a smile to my face, when she cries because someone leaves it makes me love her even more, and when she shakes my hand with both of her paws I can’t help but laugh. Whenever I’m ever home alone I feel safe knowing my Hero is with me. Whenever she places her head on the edge of the couch and looks up at me, my heart melts. She really does live up to her name. She is my hero.

The first photo of Hero from the day we got her