The day I met my dog.

It started off as any other day.

Bright skies, no clouds. Nothing to shelter us from the persistent grilling sun. It was going to be a long day. Little did I know, I was going to feel love for the first time, again. The kind of feeling you only ever read about, or watch in movies. The kind that is, quite plainly, the most mixed of emotions you could possibly feel at any given time.

She looked up at me from within a basket, squinting in the light of the late-afternoon skies, yawning from that nap she was pampering. I reached out, patted her. She instantly rubbed her face against my fingers and sat on all fours, looking at me. Her slanted, slit-like eyes, piercing through mine almost as if she could hear my thoughts.

It felt like I could look at her and just, be.

Exist.

In that one fleeting moment, for as long as the moment let me.

Arya Bark Earny. German Shepherd, Female.