4 years ago today Gracie came to live with us.

I don’t think I had ever been so excited in my entire life. We had to drive 2.5 hours north, almost to the border of Canada, to pick her up. She was a litter of 5 girls and we had decided not to crop her ears. Her sister’s had just gotten their ears cropped the day before. When we walked into the back yard, I saw her trying to chew on the freshly mangled ears of her siblings. I said “that’s my girl!”

Over the course of the next hour we filled out paperwork, watched her go potty on the rug, and learned how to clip toenails. Then we packed her into her crate and drove home.

We were totally overwhelmed. Actually, we went into mourning for our old life for awhile.

But now, I can’t imagine life without her. She has taught us so many things from accepting the hair on our couch, instant forgiveness, and the beauty of waking up to a big head on my chest in the morning.

How perfect that today was the exact same gorgeous, crystal, blue sky in Seattle as the day we brought her home 4 years ago. So off we went this evening to the back yard to get some shots in.