I'm not an artist by trade and I very rarely decide to put some pencil to paper and draw something up, but I think I CAN and this was a special occasion.

For Christmas in 2003, I decided to give my boyfriend something special. Something with not much monetary value, but from my heart. Something purely of me. So I had his/our dog, Nikita sit still... over and over and over again, over a period of a week or so, and sketched this for him. It could've been done quicker, but I wanted it to be a surprise, so I had to only work on it when he was out or asleep.

After working on it for a while and sneaking it out to a place to get it framed, I wrapped it up. We went to our traditional Xmas trip to his mother's house, he opened it up and had to visibly fight back the tears, as I snapped this picture. For some reason he felt he had to be strong in front of his mother.

He tells me it's the best gift he's ever gotten.

To this day, it still hangs on our bedroom wall. He says sometimes, when he's feeling all frazzled about life, he gazes at this little sketch I drew and feels that everything will be okay.

Rest In Peace, Nikita: 6/24/1998 - 4/22/2008