Chunk

Many of you who know me well... or, just follow me on social media... know that I have quite the love for my 14.5 pound Pomeranian floof-ball that takes the very proud name of, Gabe. FYI- Do yourself a favor and click his highlighted name to open his very own hashtag page on Instagram. We are extremely dedicated to Tuesdays off in the sunshine together/snuggling/just being really freaking cute-as-heck, and hey, we like to share it with the world because I mean... have you SEEN him?! So seriously.... go click it. Follow it, give him some well deserved love. He's the bees knees.

After you do that, (thanks in advance, by the way... you won't be disappointed)... sit back and listen to me rant a little more about how much I love this perfect little creature.

Gabe became a part of my family when I was 18, and he was just a few weeks old... a little fuzz, if you will, when we met for the first time. The year 2012 was a big one for me because he came into my life, and I really had no idea what was lying ahead of us. I grew up with dogs, with friends and family that had dogs... and I had always LOVED them. Dogs are my favorite animal - compassionate, loyal, loving, endlessly comforting. Always there when you need them, when you feel alone, or when you just need a buddy to share your ice cream with. But I had never had a dog that was MY best friend. We had family dogs, certainly. I just never really connected with any of them in a way where I thought I could never live without them... That was of course, until I met Gabe.

I was entering my senior year of high school, and although I can't say I remember it well (not because of any stupid-teenager-choices, but because my memory truly is crap... I have the WORST time remembering a lot of things in general, let alone anything that was years ago).. anyways, I might not remember a lot from that time in my life but I do remember Gabe. He was just a wee-bug, someone who I came home to after having a bad day, after failing another science test, or after having a great beach day with my friends.... Gabe was there. Patiently waiting for me to always return home. And I had never been so happy to see him every time I came through the front door of my house. He always welcomed me like I had been gone for seven years even though I usually was just gone for a few hours of the day. My chunky man always knew when I was walking up our sidewalk, and he never once failed to greet me with the loudest hello, and an abundance of kisses.

Eventually, I left for college at the University of Delaware (best school ever by the way, #rollhens) and that was extremely hard for me... leaving him and only going home twice, even once a month after snuggling with him every night in my bed? Talk about challenging.... but, we made it work. As any best friend relationships do. And still, he greeted me the very same every time I came home, no matter how long I was away... four years at school and he loved me more than I ever thought a little pupper could. It's like he had a sixth sense about me, and me with him... when I had a break-up, a long drive home from school, a loss in the family... he never left my side when I needed him most, even when I had to leave his side and return back to school. I would come home, and there he'd be! He learned my car, my patterns, and he'd run to the front door, kisses awaiting me and my hello! I graduated college after those long years and moved back home... and for about a year we shared walks on the beach, cheesey eggs (his favorite) cool evenings out on the porch, quiet mornings listening to the birds, movie nights with mom and dad... and we were together snuggling in bed every single night again like nothing had ever changed. I'd fall asleep, head on his chunky little floof-butt, and he'd snore, and we'd fall asleep each night, just two best buds.

After the summer of 2018, I struggled to figure out what I wanted to do with my post-grad life. I had spend another summer at home working at my forever favorite place, Coastal Kayak. I'm such a water creature, so I mean... what is better than waking up each day and taking people out for a paddle? That's at least what I thought... but nonetheless, I searched for a full-time job that would be beneficial to my life, that would help me grow, that would challenge me, and that made me excited to go to each day. After months of searching, I finally landed a position at Truth Mind & Body... see my previous posts about this beautiful place that I work at everyday, it's a blessing to be here... right now though I'm talking about Gabe :) so moving on... I moved from my parents house, away from Gabe and the ocean to Maryland and began working in January of this year. After many years of traveling back and forth to Gabe, I knew that I didn't want to ever go back to sleeping without my chunky bug, and in a few months time, after a lot of lonely nights... I brought my little man here to live with me. And we've been snuggling to sleep every night, since.

Right now as a matter of fact, we're sitting on my couch and he's snoring up a storm. He's 7 years old now, and I'm 24. I know that we have many more years together and I have to say that I just can't ever imagine a day without him greeting me at the door with his barks and kisses when I come home. He might have some grey spots coming in on his chin, but I know that he'll be with me for the rest of my life, even though one day I know his butt won't physically be under my head at night anymore when I go to sleep. He's my forever best friend.

They say that the reason why dogs don't live as long as people, is because people are born so that they can learn how to live a good life, how to be kind, and how to love others. But dogs... well they were born already knowing how to do all of that, so they don't have to stay as long.

And Gabe, well, he taught me (and still teaches me) the best meaning of unconditional love that I could ever ask for. Loud welcome-home barks, hundreds of little wet kisses, and lots of nights filled with hours of sleep on the fuzziest, most loving chunky butt in the whole wide world.

So, give your fur-balls an extra kiss today. It's what they live for, literally.

Xoxo. Much love... (from me, and from Gabe).