To my dearest four-legged friend,
Almost every day you watched my car leave the driveway and you faithfully waited for me to come home. As you approached a ripe old age of 14-and-a-half, I cannot help but think my time with you is shorter than ever. To see your fluffy face, toothless grin and eyes open every day was a miracle. There are so many things I wanted to say to you, but I forgot to tell you as life got busy. Even though you physically do not have the ability to read this, just know there will never be another dog like you.
I hope all these years of living with us have been fulfilling for you. You have stolen the heart of each person in our family. We consider you in every choice we make because to us, you are more than a dog. You slowed our world down. You showed us how to be simple. When millions of things were happening in our lives, we would forget we were the only ones in yours. You helped to center our family and bring us back to reality.
No matter how bad you were, we still loved you. When you would have an accident in the house or snap at a guest, we never regretted our decision to keep you. To say you were an easy dog to get along with would be lying. We had to teach you manners and etiquette that in your old age you have forgotten. This is not your fault. One day we will be old and our minds and hearts will be weak. One day when we are old, your memory will be all we have to wake up to. Be sure of this—we will always love you.
I am so sorry that we had to leave you alone every day. Even though you probably enjoyed having the time to yourself, it broke our hearts to leave you. Throughout the days, I would sit and wonder what you do when no one is home. The worst feeling was seeing you poke your head through the curtain to watch us drive away. You would reach your little paw up and scratch the glass. We all assumed you were saying, "Please don't leave." Without fail, you greeted us every day as if we had never left.
Thank you for your faithfulness to each of us. When I needed someone, you were by my side. When I wanted someone to go for a ride with, you would go. When I wanted someone to share french fries with, I could always count on you. We could always count on you because you could always count on us. You openly hated strangers who took time with us away from you. Your patience with us as we went places every day left no room for strangers to occupy our time at home. You stayed truly faithful to the people in your family.
To see you age has been one of the hardest things to do. That glossy, bright red fur now lays beneath a white-gray coat. It was like one day you played with all of your toys and the next day they never left your basket. As we grew older, you grew older. You no longer follow us around excited to go from room to room. Your body, now weakened by age, watches the excitement of our household instead of playing in it.
Now, you wait for time to take its course as we tearfully avoid the honest truth that the circle of life is inevitable.
Regardless of what tomorrow brings, we love you and cherish each moment you have on earth. We hand-picked you to be in our lives.
There will never be a replacement dog that will fill your shoes.
There will never be another dog that will touch our lives the way you touched ours.
There will never be another Sophie.
With love,
Your faithful friend
