Four years on...

I don't know who to attribute the above quote or photo to, so I apologize for that. It came to me from Pinterest, and it is sadly appropriate for today. Today is the fourth anniversary of Sophie's passing...and yes, it was one of the worst days of my life. But I am so happy to have had the preceding 2,920-plus days of her in my life. I am also thankful that I went in search of a shelter dog, and that I didn't rule out an older dog.

She was eight years old when I brought her home. She was billed on Petfinder as "young" when I was searching, but that was an error. I knew she wasn't particularly young when I saw her, but I didn't know she was eight years old until I had her home and my (know it all!) husband found her age buried in some paperwork. We fell in love with her immediately, and yet I worried about how long we would have to spend with her at that age. Sometimes when I would walk her, I would pray that we could have eight more years. That seemed reasonable, right? That would total sixteen years, and she was a small dog. It was possible...

So we made it. I felt greedy at the end...having a 16 year old dog and an answered prayer, but still silently hoping for more. She was imperfectly perfect, and we loved her beyond measure. We still do. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about her.

I still miss you Sophie. Thanks for being such a great dog. XOXOXO