last friday, atlas and i celebrated nine years together.

nine years! can you believe it?!

by celebrated, i mean that i told him approximately one million times that i adore him and love him and then i took him for a long hike on our favorite trail.

on saturday, i took him to the pet store and bought him a giant treat. he ate it in the sunshine. (it was too smelly to allow inside the house.) it took him 50 minutes (a record, usually treats take him seconds, maybe minutes if i’m lucky) and then he got up and walked slowly to the house. his tongue was hanging out and he was panting and he looked like he had never worked so hard in all his life. it was pretty funny. (it was really due to the sun. he usually heads for the shade after a couple of minutes, but he was so engrossed in his treat that he couldn’t be bothered.)

i know i say this often, but i cannot believe how lucky i am to have atlas in my life. he is the best four-legged friend a girl could have. my life is infinitely better and richer because he is in it and i am a better person for having known him. i have been given the greatest gift – nine years of unconditional love and joy and companionship and play and adventure. i wouldn’t trade it (or him) for anything.

he is my pup, and i am his girl, and i hope there are many more years in our future.

(today, he is slightly less happy, as he is limping, and he does not like it. he keeps sitting tall in front of me and waving his bad leg at me helplessly and looking at me with big sad eyes like he knows i can fix it if i just try. oh, how i wish i could. here’s hoping he feels better soon.)