It was late January, 2000, a memorable time of my life. It was Super Bowl Sunday and one of the coldest days we had in a while. The ice and snow in the trees made is look like a winter wonderland outside. My family and I were settled in the den, feeling the warmth of the wood burning in the fireplace, anticipating the long awaited football game. However, I had other things on my mind this day and it surely was not a football game.

My parents constantly asked me weeks before what I wanted for my sixteenth birthday in February. I thought of many things, but the one thing I really wanted was a new puppy. I really was not sure of how they would react to this idea, so I hesitated to let them in on my thoughts. I was not prepared to receive the rejection and heartbreak that I knew I would feel if they said no.

For weeks I purchased the newspaper, searching the ads, looking for that perfect pup

before I could think, I told them. At this point I felt like they could actually hear my heart beating, it felt as if it would burst out of my chest. Then the answer came from my father. "Really Nichole?" "What kind of puppy do you want?" I know my mouth fell open and hit the floor. I thought, could this really be happening?

py. I knew what I really wanted, and that was a Chinese Shar Pei. I had never seen anything so lovable in my life. With every picture, I could imagine how one would feel cuddled in my arms. The Chinese Shar Pei has loose skin that is literally covered with wrinkles from head to toe. I had heard the phrase that something could be so ugly that it was cute, and these puppies fit this description to a tee.

When we arrived at the owners house and they brought out the puppy, tears of joy ran down my face. My rapidly beating heart was now so calm, warm, and filled with so much love for this precious puppy.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Super Bowl, Mom Dad, Shar Pei, Sixteenth Birthday, Chinese Shar, super bowl, chinese shar pei, football game, sixteenth birthday, chinese shar, shar pei,
Approximate Word count = 638
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)