My Sixteenth Birthday
             It was late January, 2000, a memorable time of my life. It was Super Bowl Sunday and one of the coldest days we had in a while. The ice and snow in the trees made is look like a winter wonderland outside. My family and I were settled in the den, feeling the warmth of the wood burning in the fireplace, anticipating the long awaited football game. However, I had other things on my mind this day and it surely was not a football game.
             My parents constantly asked me weeks before what I wanted for my sixteenth birthday in February. I thought of many things, but the one thing I really wanted was a new puppy. I really was not sure of how they would react to this idea, so I hesitated to let them in on my thoughts. I was not prepared to receive the rejection and heartbreak that I knew I would feel if they said no.
             For weeks I purchased the newspaper, searching the ads, looking for that perfect puppy. I knew what I really wanted, and that was a Chinese Shar Pei. I had never seen anything so lovable in my life. With every picture, I could imagine how one would feel cuddled in my arms. The Chinese Shar Pei has loose skin that is literally covered with wrinkles from head to toe. I had heard the phrase that something could be so ugly that it was cute, and these puppies fit this description to a tee.
             What seemed like hours of silence as my family and I sat staring at the television, the question come up again. "Nichole, what do you want for your birthday?" My heart felt like it stopped. I looked at my Mom and then at my Dad with the biggest smile on my face and
             before I could think, I told them. At this point I felt like they could actually hear my heart beating, it felt as if it would burst out of my chest. Then the answer came from my father. "Really Nichole?" "What kind of puppy do you want?" I know my mouth fell open and hit the floor. I thought, could this reall
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