Spring break is awesome, there’s no denying that. Some people go home for their families, home cooked meals, and showering without flip flops on; some choose to go to a tropical place with their friends and party all week. Others visit friends at their own colleges, since spring breaks somehow manage to rarely match up with friends from home.

No matter how you spend it, spring break is a beloved rest from school, a break from constant stress and routine. The weeks before vacation are always packed with last hurrahs of partying and endless papers, tests, and presentations, so when break finally arrives we are full of relief. We hope our professors haven’t given us too much work to do during our time off although, of course, there is always that one teacher who piles it on just to be sadistic.

Although the promise of no classes and a relaxing week ahead is certainly what drives me through midterms, there is one motivator that stands above all else: seeing my dog. My family adopted our dog when I was in first grade, from a rescue shelter an hour north from my house. I used to walk her every day after school, played with her in the backyard, and fed her scraps from the counter when my mom wasn’t looking.

She was idiotic when she was younger, chasing deer with a vengeance and attempting (but always failing) to befriend the neighbor’s cats. As she’s aged, she’s become much lazier and contemplative. She searches out sunbeams in the house to nap in all day, sniffs every blade of grass on her walks, and looks at and ignores all wild animals that used to catch her attention. In her old age, she has become more affectionate, too.

I look forward to going home for many reasons, because I am extremely close to my family, but she is the first one I hug hello. Whenever I come home, she scurries up to me, tail wagging furiously. I sit on the ground with my arms open and she buries her head into my armpit or rubs her face into my neck, pressing into me with her whole body. She is my favorite hugger in the world.

Before going to college, I knew I would miss her because she has been such an integral part of my life for over a decade, but I couldn’t have imagined just how much I would miss her. It’s the little things she does and that make up who she is that I am in love with. She sheds everywhere, walks slower than a sloth, and smells kind of like she’s already dead, and I love her more than life. I can’t wait to be done with midterms, with stress, with school.

Going home to my dog is incredibly rewarding because no matter how long I’ve spent away from home, whether it’s a long day at a friend’s house or a few months at college, she greets me like I’m her favorite person in the world. I’m counting down the days until I get another one of those hugs.