I had this tiny little red miniature longhaired dachshund named Hershey. She was maybe the tiniest miniature I've ever seen. She loved me so much, I took her everywhere. I remember when I lived near Washington, D.C. one time I even put her in my backpack and smuggled her onto the subway and took her downtown to walk. Eventually I moved out and didn't take her with me.

I don't have a picture of her. I don't have any old pictures. I choose not to have them because I spent a lot of my younger years in a lot of emotional pain, and I choose not to be nostalgic for it. Many years of therapy have mostly healed me, but I don't like to go back to that time in my mind.