puppy love graham

Dear Graham,

You really scared us this year.  Not appreciated.

I know that you were sad and lonely while we were gone, and that you didn't do it on purpose.  That's why you got to come to Ohio with us instead of staying home.

You're three years old now, and it's easy to say that those three years have been some of the best of my life.

You wiggled into my life right around the time I met your daddy, and you've been here through every minute of the story of us.  I loved you the first day I picked you out of the box.

I know life has changed a lot for you since then.  You got a sister, and then another one, and you don't understand why they steal your toys and your snuggling, but they are your family too.

What I've learned from you is that love comes from everywhere.  It's simple and uncomplicated and it is what saved your life.  

It's the reason you are standing here, right now, with your head on my leg while I type, begging me with your eyes, can we PLEASE go outside?!

It's so hard to look back on this year and see anything other than the tragedy we went through, but I can say this now: going through hell and coming out the other side has changed all of us, for the better.

And every person that says to anyone, "But it's just a dog," has no idea what this kind of love is about.

How it follows you everywhere.

How it makes you a softer, kinder person, humbled.

How your heart just beats in a different way.

Little Graham, you may think that you are just a chapter in my life, but the truth is, you were my beginning.  Our beginning.  And you will always be the whole story, the happy ending to our fairytale.

I love you.  We all love you.  Happy Birthday.