My Precious....

The following is a result of what I like to call "practice room thinking" I was in a practice room this morning trying to play my solo when i stopped and my mind started to wander in the hopes that I could just stare at my music and be able to play it, the following is the result...
So in light of past recent events, I think I have learned one thing. Never take anything, and I mean ANYTHING for granted. I know that old cliche saying of "you don't know what you've got til it's gone" probably popped into your head, but I'm dead serious. I have learned the hard way not to take anything for granted, be it my clothes, relationships (all kinds) the opportunities I've had in life that some people may never get. I know for a fact that I'm very lucky to have family that I do and the childhood that I had. Not many people can say that they grew up in the same house with the same neighbors for 15 years. Not many kids got to draw with chalk in the cul-de-sac all day, ride bikes, rollerblade and jump in the pool whenever they wanted and play hide and go seek until the wee hours of the morning like I did. Not everyone has had the opportunity to grow up with such an awesome group of family and friends that I did. My parents rock, and I'm a bad daughter for not telling them that when I get the opportunity. My parents have always been there for me no matter what I say or do, and they support the decisions I make, even when I decide to major in music, knowing that I'm not going to make the most money, but I'll be doing something that I love. Or that time when I was in 5th grade and I had to choose whether I wanted to continue dancing or playing soccer (in a perfect world, i would have kept doing both) and when I chose dance, they were with me 100% of the way. There are also other relationships that I took for granted, but we won't go there right now, and i really really wish I hadn't done that. My friends have always been there for me and I find out now how great they really are. Some of them I don't get to see often, but they are still there much in the same way as they were when we were growing up on Paw Paw Dr. together. If I have a problem, I know that I can call them at anytime of the day and talk, not many people have friends like that. Then there's the friendship that I have with my brother. We never fight, at all, and at times I actually miss him, he is one of the best friends that I've had, and I really really take that for granted. Then there's the opportunity that my parents have given me, like college. I really really take that for granted, especially since neither one of them went to a 4 year college. I will be the first person on my Mom's side of the family to get a college degree. I also take for granted the fact that my parents let me have pets while I was growing up. From our first cat "Syd" that lived to be 13 to Daffy who just died this past summer and Chief to the numerous fish, hermit crabs, hamsters, Sunny our bird, Ernie and Oswald our cats, tree frogs and a guinea pig that have suffered the wrath of the Kiger kids, i realize that there are a lot of kids that didn't get the responsibility lesson that you get from caring for a pet. I don't want to count how many piles of poo or how many cages I've cleaned in my life, that could be scary! I also realize that i took for granted at how great it was to have a dog like Daffy in my life. I miss that dog so much. She was mine, all mine. She was my best friend, and at times I feel like she was my only constant best friend and a steady constant in my life. She was there for me no matter what, no matter who was mad at me, or who i was mad at, she was there, and now she's gone. I know that she's in a happy place right now, chasing the squirrles and rabbits we never let her chase, but it's still hard knowing that I won't come home to her snoring under the end table in the living room. I know that it was her time to go and that 17 is REALLY old for a dog, but still...the day before she was fine and now she's gone. Hell the day before she died, she stole one of my Dad's donuts off of his plate and ate it in one bite. I miss her like crazy and even though her hair was a pain in the butt she was the best dog ever. I'm glad we have Chief but he won't replace Daffy in a million years. I know for sure that not every person has the chance to bond with a dog like I have, and though right now it hurts 4 months later (I'm crying right now) Everyone should have the opportunity to bond with an animal like I have. And you can be sure I'll thank my parents for letting us have her when I go home next week. I'm also glad my parents let us have Chief especially since Daffy was so old. A couple days before we got him, they told me that when Daffy was gone, they weren't going to have another dog in the house. But i think it has made the loss of Daffy a little easier. Especially since we got him before she died, it makes him not a replacement, but it makes it easier because we got him before Daffdog was even remotely sick. And because we got him when he was a puppy, he has picked up Daffy's best traits and they are showing. He's also becoming one of my best friends. Haha, now you think I'm one of those psycho animal lover people (which I am, but not to the psycho extent). Those are just some of the random thoughts that are flying in and out of my head at the moment, there are others, but they can't be expressed in the blog because I don't how to express them in a blog. Lets just suffice it to say there are some things that I want back, that I know right know I can't have back, and I want them back anyway. So in conclusion (I feel like I'm writing an English paper) I want to thank you to everyone who has known me and will know me, you've all touched me in some way, shape or form. And these past couple of months have smacked me upside the head and woken me up to reality and what it's like to really grow up. Some times I wonder why so much shit has had to happen to me in the past 4 months. Couldn't it have been the past 4 years or 14 years? And with this enormously long post, now I'm going to go engulf myself in homework and practicing as a distraction...