I’ll never forget the first week after we got our Black Lab-mix rescue Bailey. We came home after an evening of celebrating my birthday in 2003 to find Bailey, who was in a puppy fence in our kitchen, had turn up a foot-wide circle of our linoleum. She was super lucky she was a very cute puppy. That wouldn’t be the first thing she would destroy in our house as she grew up, but it was certainly the most memorable.

After Brenden was born, she became “his” dog. There was a point when he was 4 or 5 where he couldn’t go to sleep without her in his room.

Early in April this year, we had to say goodbye to Bailey. It was one of the hardest days of my life, but telling Brenden that she had died was quite possibly the hardest thing I’ve done in my life. He cried hard for about 15 minutes straight and then off and on for the next couple of days. He still mentions that he misses her and I just tell him I do too.

This is Bailey in our apartment when we lived in New Jersey.

This is Bailey about a week before she died laying on Brenden’s bed, something she loved to do. In those final days, seeing her like that just broke my heart.

I miss you Bailey. You were a great dog.