Losing Joy

Chapter 3

Five years before the accident:

Mom was going in for her surgery and I was devastated. I never knew my dad so losing him wasn't as big of a deal but my mom has always been my best friend. When she went into surgery she told me to stay with Joy during the whole thing. She knew how strong Joy is and that she would be able to take care of me and protect me. Lucky, mom pulled through. After surgery there were no more traces of any tumors or anything. She was hospitalized for a couple days just because of the recovery from the surgery. Joy and I spent most of our days in the hospital with her. It wasn't too far from school so during lunch Joy and I would walk down to the hospital and stay with her until we had to walk back, almost sprint just to make sure we wouldn't miss any classes.
It was nice to spend time with her even though it had to be because of this. After this scare of cancer, nothing was ever spotted again and hopefully it will stay that way. Mom has been healthy ever since, she still eats right and exercises and she hasn't been sick since before the surgery.

Four years before the accident:

It was my first date. I had been asked out to pizza and a movie by a kid I had been friends with forever. I never really expected him to ask me out, in other words I was suprised. Not only did we seem young but I never knew he saw me that way. His name was Jackson and he had bright blue eyes. He was on the darker side and he had an amazing smile. I think I always had a little crush on him throughout being friends and I was over the moon when he asked me out. More than anything though, I was nervous. I had no clue what it was going to be like, I thought it was going to be awkward and there was going to be too many awkward silences, which I was right but we survived.
When I told Joy about him asking me, she practically jumped out of her own skin. She knew how long I had liked him for, even though I tried to hide it, there was no way I could hide anything from her. She gave me tips on what to do and what not to do and she helped plan out my outfit. "The key is to be casual but cute", she said when we was ruffling through my closet and drawers. Joy had a boyfriend at the time and they had been dating for two years, none of us thought it was going to last even a month but they proved us wrong. Actually they were the cutest couple I had ever seen. They were prefect for eachother. They gave each other their space but seemed to always be around each other. They pushed each other to try new things and explore and they never got sick of one another. The two of them truly were relationship goals, so when taking Joy's advice I wasn't hesitate one bit. The date went well, we both had a lot of fun and we ended up going out a couple more times before deciding that we both just liked being friends better. I still consider him my first boyfriend, even though I was only twelve and nothing really was official.

Five years before the accident:

The little goldendoodle was the one thing that Joy and I always bonded over no matter what. His name was Marley and he was the best dog anyone could ask for. He did tricks and he obeyed right after the first time. He understood when you would talk to him and he was a great listener. He never begged for scraps at dinner, he didn't bark at the TV. But above everything else, the best thing was that he was the biggest cuddler you have ever seen. He would hop onto the couch with you and just plop down right next to you. He always had to be around people, it was like he always had to be touching someone in order to be comfortable. He just was a major people person in general. The two of us took him on walks daily and he never pulled or ran ahead. He walked right next to us the entire time. He was everything you could ask for in a dog, all except he couldn't feed himself or clean up every himself.
After having him for a few years, Joy started to notice he was acting different. He never got excited anymore, he would just wallow around, lying on the floor most of the time. It became a struggle to get him to go on walks. He went from carrying his own leash on walks to needing to be carried back home when we were halfway there. He never acted off and none of us knew what was wrong with him. We took him to the vet and they all said that nothing was wrong and that just with time he would be back to normal. When we brought him back home that day he went to sleep in an unusual spot and he never woke up again. Joy and I had never been so devastated in our lives. We tried everything but no one knew what happened or what was wrong with him. We never really found out what exactly happened to him. He was a great pup and hopefully he loved his life with us as much as we loved him. We held a small puppy funeral for him where both Joy and I spoke about him. Rest in peace Marley.