Atlas. Baby. Buddy. We miss you. We keep waiting for you to poke your little face out the hall entrance to see what is going on. We keep waiting to hear you bark whenever there is movement out the front window. We keep thinking you will be there to greet us whenever we return home from a day of school or work. We miss you trying to corral the children whenever they were running and playing. We miss you keeping our kitchen floor clean (I had no idea how much work that was for you). We miss your constant companionship. We miss your never failing love and faithfulness. Quite simply, we MISS YOU!
Atlas joined our family on January 19, 2002. Matt and I adopted him from a local shelter. He immediately became a part of the family by jumping from the back of the car to sit in my lap as I drove home. He also quickly established his place in our family by relocating himself. He was "suppose" to be a garage dog whenever we were gone but he busted through a sealed up cat door and proudly perched himself on the couch the very first day we tried the garage thing. Never again did he spend time in the garage. He was our first baby. He slept between the doors to our girls rooms each night. He waited patiently for us whenever we weren't home. His liver failure started in April of 2012. He weathered it well. On New Years Day, 2013, we noticed he wasn't moving. He slowly opened his eyes and eventually got going but his breathing was labored. His hind legs continued to give out. We enjoyed two day of loving on him, giving him pets and he gave us his all those days so we had a chance to say good-bye. He died on January 4, 2013. We miss him. We just miss him.
This is the last picture I ever took of Atlas.
I dug through some old photos and found a few. He doesn't look much different from the day we got him. This is him, curled up on the comforter on our bed.
Out for a walk.
Where we found him that first day. Perched in his favorite spot, the right side of the couch.
This is Avery "trying" to pet him.
Hiking with Matt & Alexandra.
Alexandra walking him when she was two...and again when she was eight.
An old family shot, I'd guess circa 2005.
