Narrative Essay Example: Dogs in My Family

Every now and then, there are moments in life that enable you to see the beauty of it all. Many times, these moments are simple, but these small moments still let you reflect on the wholesomeness in the world. Meeting one of my dogs, Milo, for the first time encapsulates one of these simple, yet significant experiences perfectly. Now, do not mistake me, I love all of my dogs the same amount; however, the overall experience when meeting my fourth dog was just a memorable experience. When my parents first mentioned the idea of another dog, I called them crazy. At this point, my family already owned three dogs, and I am not talking about small dogs. Well, our oldest dog is fairly small, but our other two are big dogs. At the time, my brother moved out recently, and my sisters and I joked half seriously that my mom needed to cope with a brand-new puppy. Because of that, I felt a little less hesitant about the idea. However, I still stayed somewhat reluctant until the first day I spent with Milo. Overall, my family and I traveled a long way for our dog, and within this memorable day, I witnessed beautiful scenery, spent quality time with my family, and ended the day with a new pet.

On the day that my family and I planned our drive, I could feel the excitement filling the house from everyone except for me. I have no issue with animals; rather, I just thought that my family already owned too many. Even with that in mind, I looked ahead to the rest of the day with some enthusiasm. I held some anticipation in meeting the new dog; additionally, the ride would take around an hour, and I always look forward to a long car ride. Pretty soon after my family and I prepared ourselves to leave the house, we packed ourselves inside our family car. My parents sat in the front seats, my middle sister and I sat in the back seats, and my oldest sister sat in the middle seats with my brother who recently moved out. He may have moved out, but he still wanted to accompany us for the trip. Before the car ride even began, my sister, Paige, eagerly asked me what song I wanted to hear for my turn with the music. I always pick first since my sisters and I take turns with the music from youngest to oldest. I can not remember exactly what song I chose, but considering the time, I most likely asked her to play one of David Bowie’s songs since I used to listen to his music all the time. In the car, we took turns playing our songs, even though my brother argued with us to not listen to anything since he stated that he did not really enjoy music. Even with that ridiculous argument, nothing and no one could ruin my day. I may not have been overly excited at the prospect of a new dog, but it was still a really nice day so far. Some of my favorite music played in the background, I sat around and conversed with my family, and I stared at the beautiful scenery outside my window such as the huge trees filled with an abundance of leaves and the long, green fields. 

In due course, we arrived at the home of the couple that would give us our new dog, and I looked at our surroundings. The two of them owned a nice little house in the countryside with animals everywhere. I looked around at the many animals such as chickens, birds, dogs, and pigs. The couple told my parents on the phone that they needed to give away their dog because they already owned too many animals, and I really understood that seeing all the different animals wandering about. Fairly soon after we arrived, the two of them walked out of the house to greet us with a little poodle by their side. Almost immediately, I felt I could make out the personality of this little poodle since he kept trying to run away from them and play with the other dogs. I knew he would be a handful, but he also seemed really sweet. My parents and this younger couple conversed while my siblings and I stood by and listened. They made casual conversation, and the young couple described the lively personality of our new dog to us. They also told us his name, and looking back, I honestly can not remember his old name because of how wild it was. I only remember the man telling us that Greek mythology inspired the name. After some more small talk, we left their home and started back towards the car with our dog. When we reached the car, he excitedly jumped in. 

The dog sat in the back with me and my sister, Brenna. He sat in the middle of us with his mouth wide open, and I know whenever dogs look like that, they are only panting, but I swear it always looks like they are adorably smiling. Both of us tried to pet him, but we could not get his full attention. He just kept looking back from thing to thing and person to person. While this happened, my oldest sister tried to pet him too from the middle seat, so everything felt a bit chaotic. Eventually though, this little dog wore himself out and laid down with his head on my lap, and I became completely attached to him. He kept falling asleep periodically while my sisters and I would take turns petting him. During the car ride back home, my family and I tried to come up with new names for him. We would have kept his old name to not confuse him, but none of us could pronounce it. We thought of names such as Finn, Axel, and Arlo; however, we eventually settled on the name, Milo. All of us completely agreed on his new name since we felt it fit him best. As Milo slept next to me, and I looked out the window at the magnificent nature in the countryside, I felt peaceful.

I still remember this experience so fondly because of how perfect it was. Meeting my new dog certainly helped make this experience so wonderful, but also the smaller, nice parts of the day just kept piling up. If this experience taught me anything, it taught me that I should always keep an open mind about new things. Without opening myself up to this experience, I never would have spent that time with my family, seen the beautiful nature, and assumed responsibility for a new and amazing dog.