I don’t know one family that hasn’t had kids beg their parents for a dog (besides my cousins who love cats). My sister Claire and I have begged my Mom and Dad for a dog since we could talk. Our Mom always pushed back getting a dog. In the beginning it wasn't until Claire was in 1st grade, then not until we finish building our house, but once the house was done my Mom didn’t want to ruin our new home with a puppy.
 

We talked about our future dog for years. We discussed so many names and breeds. At first the “dog” would be named hoover which is another name for vacuum cleaner. My Mom liked to think of dogs as a vacuum for all the fallen food. It wasn’t until one christmas when my family was in the middle of building our house, we were all gathered around the TV watching the original “Little Rascals”. In this black and white episode the gang was gathered around rubbing lamps hoping to find a genie to grant them a wish. One of the main characters, Stymie kept wishing for his little brother Cotton to be a monkey. All of the sudden their surroundings became smothered in fog followed by a loud bang. Once the cloudy smoke dissolved into the air a monkey had actually appeared. All of the kids were startled at the idea that they actually turned Cotton into a monkey. Little did they know there was a circus in town causing all the ruckus, and poor little Cotton was scared off by the noise. My family and I found this ridiculous yet so entertaining, we all started saying “I wish Cotton was a monkey”. It wasn’t until a few weeks later, at a family dinner that I decided our “dog” should be Cotton, so we could say “I wish Cotton (the dog) was a monkey”. And that was it, no matter the breed, girl or boy, the dog would be named Cotton.

Years passed and there was still no Cotton apart of the family. My sister and I had gradually stopped the begging, we lost hope in ever getting Cotton. It wasn’t until the family trip we took to Kentucky in 2013 did the talk of Cotton spark up again. My sister Claire and I weren’t too thrilled with some of the activities my Mom and Dad had planned so we made a deal, we would participate if they finally agreed to get Cotton. Weather my parents wanted to or not, they agreed for the sake of their sanity on that trip.  As we arrived home the search for Cotton that they promised never began. I knew it was too good to be true, I would never get to meet Cotton.

Months glided by and Claire and I’s dreams of Cotton had been forgotten. But those hopes for our puppy came back one night when I had a dream, it was to detailed not to be real. As soon as my Mom woke me up for school that friday morning I was quick to tell her all about my dream where we actually got Cotton. She thought just laughed and asked about my day. Frustrated that the puppy conversation hadn’t continued I told her how our neighbor Gwyne was coming over after school.  After school Gwyne and I did just that. After sticking around for about an hour we wanted to go walk uptown. I called up my Mom to tell her where I was going and she was quick to say no, I abruptly applied why with a bothered tone and she told me just to wait until she got home.  I hung up the phone like the bratty pre teen I was and told Gwyne we had to stay here. After another 20 minutes of waiting in my kitchen I heard the heavy garage door open. It wasn’t until the mud room door opened wide and I saw Claire drop to the floor speechless. I jumped off the countertop and hustled my way over to the doorway. I became speechless myself as I saw my mom holding the smallest, most charming little puppy I have ever seen. She was a blend of white and cinnamon with big floppy ears. The first words to come out of my mouth was “who’s dog is that?”. I couldn’t wrap my head around the idea of Cotton being ours. But as soon as my Mom passed me our new bundle of fur I knew she was ours. I glanced up to my mom with the biggest smile on my face, smiling back she told “now you know why I thought your dream was so funny”. Laughing at the universe’s crazy ways, I looked back at my new furry sister and heard my mom say, “Meet Cotton”.