Hey Georgia,

I just came home from a long day at work and I was thinking about you. I always think about you but I was thinking specifically about how I was going to walk into the front door and have you not be waiting there for me, shaking your tail and barking your little head off. I knew you were always just trying to protect the house, a house that is sadly much quieter now without you.

Mom reminded me today that in November it’d be a year that you left us. That’s so crazy to think about, especially because we were blessed to have you for so long – fifteen years! It sometimes feels like we grew up together.

Writing this letter makes me think about all of the times I’ve yelled at you for dumb reasons, like scratching the door to be let out or snoring to loud while I was trying to watch a movie on the couch. I would take back every time I rose my voice at you for just another day together.

You never think that a dog, a simple four-legged, waggily tailed creature would have such an affect on your life. I remember picking you up from the airport as a family – you were so small and shaky in your travel cage and all I wanted was to pick you up and hold you in my arms forever. I remember having to pick you up and down the stairs because they scared you and how your first night with us, my mom slept on the kitchen floor with you so you wouldn’t be alone.

There are so many different things I could recount with the time we had together on Earth, but it would take me days to write them all down, that’s how loved you were in this house.

I hope you understood that – what love was and how unconditionally we tried to show you how loved you were, and still are. There weren’t just five people in the house there were six. You were one of us, one of the Alagna’s, not just the dog that took over the entire couch. I wasn’t the only spoiled girl in the house when you joined the family, but I was happy to share the title with you.

Knowing that you’re in heaven with our grandparents makes me feel better, knowing you’re not alone up there. I’m sure Lily (our cat) is showing you the ropes up there and I hope you two are getting along.

Some days I wonder if we’ll ever get another dog as a family, or if I would ever get one in general. No dog could ever take your place, but I think you would want us to show the unconditional love we showed you to just as a deserving of a dog. I don’t think there’s any convincing Dad, but he fell in love with you, didn’t he?

I love you, baby girl. Keep watching over me up there.