The World's Worst Pet Parent

That would be me.

A few weeks ago, my mom, aunt, and cousin came to visit me & scope out my new apartment. They brought this little monster with them:

 
To be honest, I was a little worried about her coming here because she's had trouble adjusting to new places, things, and people (not that I was new, and neither was Sam, but still), and especially has had trouble adjusting to life sans other dogs. When Charlie died, it seemed like it was almost a full blown medical emergency, not going to lie.

My trepidation mostly lied with the fact that I when I work, I'm gone for around 14 hours (don't believe any nurse that says they are only gone for 12, it's a lie). Sam is here much more than me for now, but then school starts and then next year he'll hopefully be a lawyer somewhere, and that doesn't exactly scream "I have an 8-5 job!".

 Long story short, Miss Bella only hung out with us for about a week. It wasn't because she was stressed out, or because she was lonely and wouldn't eat, or walk, or generally live life. In fact, she was really good.

It was because I cried every night when I came home from work and she was so excited to see me she barked and spun in circles.

And how I couldn't leave her for more than 2 hours without wanting to rush home.

And the fact that our apartment (while plenty nice and big for the two of us at this juncture of our life) is about the half the size of my parents living room/kitchen area.

So I went home for a visit for a few days and had planned on taking her with me so she could see Albie. When we got to Smithville, she jumped out of the car and immediately started sprinting around the yard. You know she could smell home. And then she saw this munchkin: 

                                      

 And it was all over from there. He missed her, she missed him, and the way they were jumping all over each other I knew there was no way she was coming back to St. Louis in the near future.

Seriously. It makes me so sad and honestly I wish they could be with me all of the time. I would take them both in a heartbeat. If we had a house. And a yard. It's just not fair to Bella to be alone for so long when in Smithville, someone is home almost 22 hours each day. And Albert is there 24/7.

There you have it. World's Worst Pet Parent. Also, I'm pretty sure we're going to get a cat, which makes me feel like I'm cheating on my dog.