“It’s crazy how much different my life is without an animal around.”
You know, it’s crazy how much different my life is without an animal around. Since I’ve moved into college, I haven’t, of course, had an animal in my dorm, or been around animals half as much as I have my whole life. Ever since I can remember, we’ve had dogs. We’ve had at least one at a time like, consistently. We’ve never not owned a dog. Majority of the time we’ve had two.
And then, I’ve also taken horse lessons, or riding lessons my entire life. And starting in about 2020, we started leasing and owning horses. That’s probably the biggest difference for me moving to college, is not having that consistent thing to think about here is, “What am I gonna do at the barn next time I go?” Or, “I need to go to the barn today.” It’s something that gets me out of bed in the morning.
Animals are something I want to work with my — the rest of my life. I am an Animal Science major so, you know, of course I love animals and I think that they’re one of the best things that could ever happen to me, and I want them to have the best lives as possible. But I think that like, not being around animals has truly affected me one way or another. It could be that I’m not as distracted or, or it could be as, like I feel a little bit more lonely sometimes.
I’ll also say I’m thinking about getting a fish. Because I want, I want an animal around, but the thing keeping me from doing that is, first of all, the cost of getting a fish. Second of all, I want to do it right. I want the fish to be happy and healthy. And it’s kind of hard to do that when you have to transport it back and forth from home and school during breaks and just create a lot of stress for it. I’ve been researching a lot about fish, specifically betta fish, because they are generally the easiest to own. And I’ve owned some in the past, but I don’t know. I just, I think that animals are truly like a guest to humanity, and I think that without an animal in my life, I’m, you know, I’m just thinking about, “Oh, I really just want to see my dog again.” Or, “I, I really just –” I’m consistently talking to my mom. “Oh, have you read my — have you done this? Have you done that?” Answer is always yes.
But, yeah, I, I really miss having an animal around, and I think that is truly cemented in my like, my head and my heart, that I will probably always own an animal as long as, I mean, the conditions are right and I can afford it and they would have a happy life with me. So I hope that when available, I will always be able to own an animal of some kind or another.