Last year, I was a freshman during the height of COVID-19 and found myself spending many of my days alone in my dorm attending online classes. The days felt as if they were repeating themselves over and over again. Start by waking up, attending zoom classes, and then going to bed just to do it all again the next day. Being 18-year-old hundreds of miles away from home stuck in this routine I became extremely homesick and only wanted one thing, my dog.
My dog, Bailey, was my best friend growing up. She was one of my stress relievers and a way for me to calm down when I ever felt sad, anxious, or depressed. Being away from her was one of the hardest things I have ever done. The photos my parents would send me and the daily Facetimes did not compare to the feeling of being with her. Every break when I went home I felt my anxiety decreasing the more time I was around Bailey. She was honestly my emotional support animal but I did not realize how much she affected me until this past September.
This past September Bailey passed away losing my best friend of 13 years. I felt as a part of me disappeared and I had no way to escape my anxiety. Laying in bed I started to feel lonelier and lonelier until I decided it was time for me to find a way to deal with this feeling. I realized that I needed to fill the emptiness I was feeling, and what did I do? I put a deposit down on a bunny that has not even been born yet. Yes, I know it sounds a bit ridiculous that a girl loses her dog, then gets a bunny but this was the best decision I have ever made.
Driving three and a half hours to the middle of nowhere South Carolina where I thought for sure I was going to get scammed, I arrived at the farm to pick up my newborn bunny. As I walked in and saw her I felt the emptiness in my body fill with joy. I felt complete again and this time I would not be separated hundreds of miles from my new best friend.