By Arnold Cruz
Sixth Place (Tie), Grade 4-6 Division, 2010
Grade 5, Harriet Tubman ES
Teacher: Maria Samenga
A time when I bounced back from a difficult situation was when my guinea pig died. I was really sad because she was my first pet and I took very good care of her. She was a great pet and when she died I went to buried her I had tears in my eyes and before I knew it, I was really crying. She was like a sister to me. I used to feed her and we always celebrated her birthday we would always give her salad with tomatoes on top. That was her favorite. I would play with her a lot too. I even used to dance with her because I will pick up her paws and move her side to side. She had little tunnels that she could go through and some times she would fall asleep right in the little tunnel. We bought her lots of toys to play with like a ball to roll in and toys that she could chew. She also would stay on top of my shoulder and she would look at me. Many people don’t realize what great pets guinea pigs can be, but I know now and I miss her very much.
Every time I started to move on, I still could not stop thinking about her. She was three years old when she died and I would cry when I thought about her because I missed her so much. But then, I started to think about all the good times I had with my first pet and how much fun we had. That helped me move from being so sad to just remembering her and thinking about her. I knew I wouldn’t be sad forever, but it is hard when you lose someone you love, even if that someone is a pet!