So TBH I never really understood the attachment humans have to pets. I never grew up with a pet or felt a desire to care for an animal. My mom was never into the idea of giving our family extra responsibility to make sure we could keep another living thing alive.

Fast forward years later…

I pick up my sister’s Nintendo DS and she has Nintendogs in it and I end up caring for a Shiba Inu puppy for a few weeks until she makes me give it back to her.

That’s the seed. The dumb little seed that planted you.

That’s all it took. I liked the idea of you.

Eventually this seed becomes part of my life’s plan. I catch live feed videos of Shiba Inu puppies every time a new litter is born. I tell Ex-Mr about my obsession and he feeds it. He feeds it on odd ways, like leaving small printed photos of Shiba Inu puppies in the pages of books I’m reading or in spots I would find a nice little surprise.

Your name was supposed to be Musubi, like Spam Musubi. You were supposed to be black and tan. You were also supposed to arrive after I had a second child who was at least 4 years old.

That was the plan.

But plans don’t always go as imagined—and that’s ok.

Instead here you are… an entire year old and ANNOYING AS FUCK.

I say that with so much love. So much love it aches to know that your life here on Earth is much more limited than mine.

Thank you for waking me up at 7:30 am on weekends I am hung over. Thank you for ensuring there will be dog hair on me anytime I leave the apartment. Thank you for the privilege of profusely apologizing for you every single time you think it's cool to get into a fight. Thank you for being born today.

Happy birthday, Ticky Taks. I fucking love you, so so much.

PS. If anyone knows how to make a dog immortal—LMK. Asking for a friend. *WHILE UGLY CRYING OUT OF CONTROL*