Deep down in my mind, I didn’t know which photograph among my very old tattered photo albums or the more recent photos I was going to take. Unlike the old ones, for the most recent ones I could even recreate the actual scenario surrounding the original photo shooting. Finally, I made up my mind that I was to take out all of them and then pick out carefully among all of them the one that had left the greatest impression on me. First of all I separated the ones that were more than five years old.
From the onset, I opened up my old, dirty green album that had surpassed its expiry date and the oldest amongst them, my mind lit up with joy and memories started to emerge. The biggest proportion of my photographs was for my best friend Letano. Letano is my three year old Italian mastiff dog of whom I had dedicated my whole life to make his life as good as I could imagine. The name Letano was my choice for him since she was four months old, my choice for the name was based on the facts that it also refers to an innovative finish for an exceptional natural stones. When these natural stones are brushed, they accentuate their natural colors of which are which are unique to their leathery feeling when touched. The idea of naming her Letano also came by from the fact that this kind of breed of dog, mostly found in Italy, is also called Mastino Napoletano in which I shortened the same name to arrive at her incredible name. With that in mind, I placed all of them on top of the table so as my choice would not be biased on one of them. I examined each of them one by one carefully until I arrived at this one in which she was lying on the green grass with the speckles of brown died twigs which brought out all the beauty in her. Staring at me, one would not fail to notice her smooth white hair protruding on her chest as if to assert her dominance even if she was the calmest girl I ever knew. Her strongly build body and light brown eyes made an aesthetic balance to the dried twigs on the ground and brought out the harmony in the picture itself. From the picture, one would not fail to notice how beautiful, intelligent and sweet she was.
Another glimpse at the photograph caught her strong right hind foot. For once, I could not imagine that three months earlier she had abruptly developed hip dysplasia, and she had to lie down in her designer made kernel for three weeks without even the slightest movement. Those were among the loneliest days that I could actually remember, and this made me realize how important and valued she was to me. Her wrinkled face and smooth hair brought into mind the countless hours I had consumed brushing her hair in order to keep her healthy and smart. Although she had wrinkles on the face, of which would normally be a sign of extreme old age in humans, she was just three years old. Before then I could have sworn that I had her since I was born. From just by the look of her scary, brave looking face, many people wouldn’t dare come close to our home, and this ensured the safety of our family and home. By just looking at the picture, one would imagine she knew what I was thinking at that time of the shooting. Since she was small with those heavy wrinkles that made her seems as if she would fall due to the weight of her non-proportionate body, up to now that she is as large as a full grown up man and proportionately build she has been an intelligent and obedient dog of which drooling from mouth was her generally best pastime.
This is my best photograph upon which I know that after taking into class, they will surely look forward to meeting my young wrinkled friend of which I value so profoundly.
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