The Cover Story

When beginning to write about one of the most important events in my life, I had to find the right place to start it. Since I was only a certain number of words, to sum up, this event I had to see how exactly I should tell it so that everyone who is reading this piece of writing can understand why it is essential. Although many people out there may think that getting a pet is not a big deal for anyone and can be more than just a simple gift for others. But that isn’t really the case for me. Luna has a huge role in my life, even though she is just a puppy to many or just a regular pet for others, she isn’t exactly that for me, when I first received Luna it was like getting a second chance to put in an effort. But that is something that I would dive more into within this text, but one thing that I couldn’t quite wrap my head around when it comes to how exactly I should begin my essay, I decided to go with the most simple solution. To actually start from the beginning, from the time I ever wanted a pet til the day that I was actually able to receive Luna. But even though I had the timeline in my head and exactly how I want to tell my story, I didn’t quite think it would be enough not only for the requirement but as well as showing why Luna is important to my life. 

The Arrival of Luna

During the time when I was about six years old, in the year 2009, there were not many things that I experienced, not much that I have seen, but given the very limited entertainment I had back then there was always a recurring pattern that was always present. The idea of becoming a superhero from watching cartoon superheroes, like spiderman, from wanting to live in a world where I can capture creatures and use them to battle others. This was basically what a six-year-old would mainly think about, just fiction, things that in this world would never come true. A lot of these ideas I would constantly daydream about, escaping my own reality where I can become anyone I ever wanted, this may have been a bit deep for a six-year-old but even during that time, I wanted to find a way where I can run from being in school all day and go home to do homework and repeat for most of my life. This would happen often which then led me to gain a love for anything that is fiction/fantasy related, reading books, daydreaming, watching shows or movies, anything that would capture my attention about this genre. But I realized something when I was six years old with this new admiration when it comes to leaving my reality. Undoubtedly, I will always be in this reality and there will be no escape from it, so no matter how much I try I will always repeat my schedule. This then led to finding something that is attainable within my reality, and it all started with one movie that changed it all, the buddies movies. These movies would be mainly about a bunch of puppies who would go on adventures, such as saving Christmas, finding a ghost, and many more, and no matter where I look, whether it be in Hollywood movies or in real life, the idea of having a pet offered happiness everywhere. So from this point forward I became fascinated with having one of my own but obviously in order for one to have a pet there would also come with a lot of responsibilities. 

Fast-forwarding to me becoming nine years old, my dad was able to make me and my brothers extremely happy by coming home for Christmas at a late hour. When opening the door I saw my dad coming in with a big red net cage and I was barely able to see the outline of what was inside of it. As soon as I was able to realize that it was a dog I instantly became very jumpy and excited, which was a lot of emotions for me to share, since I was mainly a quiet kid. My dad told me to go to the living room and wait for him to get settled, and I instantly did exactly what he told me to do. As soon as he opened up the cage I saw a sleeping puppy. Since I was a kid and my memory is not entirely great, I did not know the type of breed this dog was exactly, but his dad received this puppy as a gift from his boss and my dad took it in for me since he knew I loved puppies. Since my brothers and I were arguing a lot as to what we should call our new puppy, my mom decided to step in and decide for us. She ended up calling him a Toy (she named her in Spanish muñeco) since it looked like a toy. Ever since I have gotten this dog I have gotten happier than I ever was, jumping a lot more, running around the apartment with Toy, and playing a lot with it. But since I was only nine years old at the time, I did not notice all of the downsides that come with having a new puppy, and my mom would constantly hide these problems as well. Hearing it from a new age, I learned that Toy was chewing up the furniture, was not potty trained, making our whole apartment his bathroom, and was found chewing electrical wires as well. So my mom decided that the best solution was to give him away to another family who is better equipped to handle a puppy. But for nine years old Kelvin didn’t see the struggle that mom was going through so that I and my brothers would be happy. I was naturally mad at her but later came to realize that it was for the best. 

For the majority of my life, I went by without a pet and sometimes have thoughts as to where and how Toy is doing with his new family, but these would mainly be lingering thoughts in the back of my head, nothing more, nothing less. Not having a pet and bringing joy into my life, I would constantly try to find things to do to keep me focused. That being school, I wasn’t the smartest student in my grade but I was within the top 15% of my entire grade. Watching many movies throughout my life, I realized that the idea of college is pictured to be nothing but fun, although, in the back of my mind, I knew it was still school and harder as well, so I decided to ignore that fact. All I wanted to do was be able to join a good college where my friends were going and be able to have this experience with them. But around my senior year, I learned that I was not able to achieve that goal of mine without paying a ton of tuition fees and leaving me and my family in debt. Finding out that having tried so hard in school to keep my grades high was for nothing, being taken to college field trips where we explore multiple campuses, where I was given the idea that these are the colleges I could end up in was a lie, it made me become lazy and ultimately give up on my work. I would constantly wait til the last minute to do my work, or sometimes not care what I turn in as long as it is over. This happened for most seniors, except for the last part of it, which was the AP exams. I thought that I owe it to myself to at least try for this part since I do want to go to college and it can help me out later on. It mainly worked out for me except for the math part, I was 1% shy of a passing grade, and I blamed myself since I gave up on my math learning beforehand. 

I later then entered the college I wanted to get into of all my other choices, mainly for the convenience of it being close to home than the others, but I wanted to enter college with the mindset that I would be better and that I will no longer give up on my work. But to be honest not much changed, at first I was doing great, completing my work on time and getting good grades, but I fell back to old habits leading me to either drop or fail classes. This went on for a semester where I realized that I would be forced to pay out of pocket if I didn’t meet the requirements of my scholarship, making me drop out since I did not want to have my family pay for my tuition since it would be too much for them. So I made a promise to myself over the summer to get myself back together and to be able to finish college. During this time of realization, my older brother came out of nowhere telling me if I want a dog now will be the time since he found one that he wants to buy but wanted everyone to put in money for her so that we all can be responsible. Although I was hesitant I decided to ultimately go with the idea, which given a week or two led to having Luna brought to us. Now that I was older I realized all of the responsibilities of having a dog, like potty training her, feeding, walking, and training her in general. Within the first day, I instantly knew that Luna was my second chance, that if I can’t take care of her then how will it ever be possible to take care of my own future, if it wasn’t for Luna I would not have been able to realize that. That is why Luna is such an important part of my life, not only do I think of her as my daughter, but she symbolizes a second chance for me to grow so that I myself can have a bright future and not give up when life gets tough.

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