An Open Letter to My Dog

For her 10th birthday I threw her a party - and you thought she wasn't spoiled.

Well, monkey. You’re officially 11 years old today. Or in dog years, 77 years old! But lets just stick with 11. I know you do everything you can to disprove your age. And as we know, you love attention. You even made sure to get born on your uncle’s birthday – completely overshadowing him you sly dog.

I still vividly remember the day I picked you, or more accurately when you chose me. Out of all the puppies in the litter you had your signature level of confidence and ran right up to me. I took the fact that you were wearing a purple collar (my favorite color at the time) as a sign that you were the dog for me.

Because you were only a few weeks old I couldn’t take you home yet. But the next couple of weeks consisted of driving over an hour each Saturday to simply play with you for a short period of time and introduce you to your new family. From your uncle to your grandparents and even your great-grandparents, you melted hearts.

Fast forward 11 years later and I have never once regretted having you in my life. Sure, you like to give me an occasional heart attack when you decide that rat poison will be your dinner. And we can’t forget the time you ate an entire bag of Dove dark chocolate two days before Christmas. I’ve just come to expect that every two years you will have a near death experience that will put a nice dent in my savings as well as giving me an emotional breakdown. But that’s just you.

I sometimes wonder what my next dog will be like (even though there’s nothing more I would want than for you to have some Luke Cage like powers and live forever). It’s hard to imagine another dog since your personality shines so much. I like to joke with my mom that her dog reflects her – sweet and docile, while mine reflects me. You’re stubborn, only giving attention when you want it, almost always never listen and will out bark any bitch.

Regardless of how much stress you put me through, there’s something about walking through the front door and seeing you go batsh*t crazy that makes the $30 prescription dog food worth it. So here’s to you Lils! 11 years and counting.