My anniversary for living in Phoenix is also marked with my girl’s death. Nickey was my 12 year old Labrador retriever that grew up with me. A girl’s best friend. I still miss her, but am thankful that I was there when she was ready to go. I always thought being across the country would be the worst thing in the world for that.

This also marks an occasional side story of my youth. It didn’t seem fair to have Yang when I was little, because I didn’t – I had Nickey.