That moment, I grew up, not like you would when you become an adult, but when you come to learn something new that will change your life forever. I felt something deep inside that I had never felt before, but yet I understood it and had to accept it. When my dog was put down I had mixed emotions, sorrow because he would be gone forever and also joy, for his pain would be gone. I should probably go back and help you experience what happened that fateful day.

It was a beautiful fall afternoon, a bright blues sky with speckles of white throughout. It was a great day to go out and play with my families dog, Casey. Now Casey was a yellow lab that was about four years old, he loved to play fetch and have his fur patted. Although he loved to play he did have a tendency to chase after things in the woods be it deer, rabbits, you name it. "Go fetch!",we commanded as the stick would fly through the cool air. "Hey!", yelled one of my brothers, "Catch this!" He through his leash into the air but just then something caught Casey's eye, and he bolted off in a split second. As we screamed for him to come back he just kept going and rounded the corner into our neighbors yard. Immediately we began to start looking for him hoping to find him close by. My parents went to the neighbors to check if they had seen him, but they had not. At the same time me and my brothers searched our back yard.

Why would he run away like that? I asked my self, maybe he just wanted the freedom that all the other animals had that he saw, but little did he know that we were actually protecting him from things he could protect himself from such as cars and dangerous animals. Just like us as humans have a desire to have freedom and will do many things to get that freedom we crave and not think about the risks of our decision, although sometimes we may not have the freedom we want because we don't understand that it is protecting us.

After a while of searching we came on back home to take a break and rest a bit. At the same time our phone began to ring. Immediately we all jumped up towards it and listened closely. My dad went up and picked the phone up from where it laid and answered it. "Hello?", he said. "Oh, ok, I'll be right there!", he concluded the phone call and hung it up. He slowly turned to face us all and the next three words would have a great effect on us,"he was hit." Those words hit cold and hard, as a child I did not really know what to think or how to feel, for I had never experienced anything like this before. He had finally gotten his freedom and then this happened, we were trying to protect him. That's why we would put a leash on him and have him stay in our garage. Right away my dad pulled out of our driveway to go down the road to where Casey was hit. At this time me and my brothers all sat down and cried about it. Soon my dad came back and we all looked into the car and saw Casey lying under a blanket. I could hear him taking heavy painful breaths, these would surely be his last. Life is so delicate, sometimes we take it for granted and don't think about what we do. A simple decision to not wear a seatbelt can have life altering effects or even death. That moment I realized as a child that nothing is forever and everything must pass away. Although it is not something we like, we have to accept that fact. At that last moment I spent with my dog I saw it as a joyful time, for his pain would soon be gone forever. From that point on I looked at life from a completely different viewpoint, we don’t have much time here on this fading earth and how our daily decisions can have an everlasting effect on us.