– Don’t put off showing love, give a hug now!

I named her Daisy. With red ribbons on her forehead and twinkling eyes, she always would want to nestle into my arms. She was an adorable thirteen-year-old Yorkshire terrier. She was my sister and my best friend. I thought she would always wait for me to bathe her, give yummy treats and to say “I love you and good bye” to her.

In 2008, on a hot summer day, I was traveling around South Korea to see my friends and relatives. At 5 o’ clock in the morning, I got a phone call from dad telling me the most devastating news I had ever gotten in my life. Daisy is no longer beside me. We no longer live on the same planet. On the day before I flew to Korea, she was shivering and whining on my bedroom floor to sleep beside me and I ignored her. I can’t stop thinking about that day which was my last chance to let her sleep next to my pillow. When I came back from Korea, I was too late to tell her how much I loved her and how much I missed her. Still, I’m not prepared to let her go although all of my chances are gone now.

I reminisced about the point in time when I was an eight year old girl in Korea and she was a three month old tiny. She was a gift from my grandpa on the day before Christmas Eve. Grandpa also bought me a red cozy kennel for Daisy. I carefully opened up the kennel door, and I was so disappointed! She didn’t look adorable at all! I couldn’t even distinguish her eyes from other facial parts. Her legs were just too short and she had completely black fur except for little yellowish spots on her eyebrows and four feet. She was a miniature Black Angus. I had imagined having a cute white puppy and she was way off from the puppy of my dreams.

Although I didn’t like her appearance at first time, Daisy had a lovely personality that I started to love her. We traveled around places in South Korea as well as the United States several times together. Because of her I was not alone when I first moved to the USA. Every time I cried because I missed my friends and my home country so much, she crawled over to me. When I practiced the violin for several hours, she’d lie down next to my feet and stay there until I finished with practice, as if she was really listening to my music. I also occasionally sang a lullaby to put her to sleep. She was my friend who never left me alone.

As I grew older, I had to do many more things than I needed to when I was young. I had to do more homework and study, I fell in love and dated for long time; also I found more happiness in the world than just playing with Daisy. Finally, I entered college. It was the first time we’d lived apart and before the new semester would start, I was ready to spend a good amount of time with her. I didn’t expect she wouldn’t be there to waggle her tail to greet me at the airport when I came back from Korea. Now, I don’t put off showing love and giving a hugs to my loved ones.