What makes your heart go pitter-patter?

Do you remember the first time you fell in love? I do. It was with my first dog. Yes it was. Are you ready for this? The post man delivered her to our door! Now I am talking a ways back now, all of 1960. She was an English Springer Spaniel with a silky coat. Her ears were like velvet.
I had a yellow stuffed dog that I use to sleep with. One day she got ahold of it and it slowly became hers.
She played with it endlessly. Time passed. I remember one summer she mated with a neighbors dog. We children looked forward to the birth of the puppies. Mom and Dad not so much. One Sunday we went on an outing, up to the lake, to go boating, water skiing and swimming.  These were always fun times. Sometimes the neighbors would join us and this particular day was no different. Only it was.
Auntie Em's son John was home from the Marines and would be coming too. It was a great day. Till the tow rope for the ski board broke and whipped back into the boat and smacked me across my eyes. I still remember this because that night she had her puppies.
The next morning my mom came in to see how I was feeling, all bandaged up, eyes swollen shut. They didn't know if I would see again. She placed a tiny warm little puppy in my hand. I squealed with delight. It wasn't until a week later that I actually got to see all 6 of them.
Shortly after they went to their new homes our mom met us at the door one night as we came home from school. She sat us down and said that she had some bad news to give us. "C" had turned on her that morning
when she came back from taking us to school and had to be put down. I think the whole neighborhood
heard us that day. When my dad got home all he said was-that's it no more dogs.
When my mom was gathering up the dogs things to donate them to the animal pound, I saw she had my yellow dog. I took one look and wailed. She handed him to me and I grabbed him, running to my room crying.
The things we love and cherish, no matter how tattered, are still precious. To this day I still LOVE the English Springer Spaniel and the memory of my yellow dog.