Animals are tied very closely to my heart. I have grown up in 4-H and have always been around animals, taking care of them. Animals don't have their own voices: they communicate with us through body language. More specifically, farm animals. When raising cows, goats, and pigs, you have to learn what each of their individual body languages means and how they communicate with you. This past year, I got into showing livestock again for 4-H. Raising and working with farm animals was something that I had missed during COVID-19. I don't live on a farm; I live in a development, and the HOA has prohibited us from keeping any animals besides our cats and dogs. I missed being around the farm, getting muddy, walking into the barn, and seeing the animals and hearing them "talk" to me. They would moo, bleat, or oink whenever I was there because they were excited to see me. That's why I'm passionate about helping animals. They are as excited to see you as you are to see them. They recognize you, and they know that you're there to work with them and pet them. They understand that. The relationship between the human and the animal is something that is dependent on both the animal and the human. It depends on how often the two meet each other, how often the animals are touched, pet, and interacted with. The less you work with your animal, the more the relationship is upkept, steady, and strong, the more valuable and the more respect comes from both sides of the relationship. The relationship that made me devoted to wanting to help animals is my cat, Meatball. I had found Meatball with my best friend in my garage at the beginning of 5th grade. She was very small and skinny; we had thought she was a kitten at first. She was so small. When we took her to the vet, they told us that she was around 2 years old. That's when we decided to keep her. Over time, my family began to realize that she was my cat. I am the one who she lets touch the most, and pick her up and play with her. No one else in my family can do the things that I can with her. She eats my food, she sits with me, and she will purr and purr when she's in my lap. She sleeps with me, and she wants me to feed her and give her treats. She is my reason. She is the reason that I want to go into veterinary medicine. I want to be that person who can save the lives of part of the family. I understand how important it is to have an animal choose you, and I am only dreading the day that she isn't going to be around anymore. I would do anything and everything to save her, and that is what I would expect from my vet.