We celebrated a bittersweet occasion two days ago. Our golden retriever fur son, Alton, turned eight years old. Yes, on September 18, 2013, he came rolling into the world, and our world hasn't been the same since. If you want some backstory of how Alton came into our lives, check out this blog post. But for today's blog, I want to reflect on how much joy he has brought into our lives since the day he joined our family. Every day with him is precious and every holiday bittersweet because we are starting to see him age as most larger breed dogs do. Unlike all of the smaller dogs I've parented before, I remind myself the odds that Alton will be with us until he is 17 or 18 as they were, are unlikely. Knowing this, we fill our hearts with as much love, drool, and dog hair we possibly can.

Aside from his loving personality and easy-going nature, his size is the one thing that his dad and I still comment on to this day. As two Little People, we can't believe we own a dog who outweighs and outsizes us both. When Alton fully extends, he is taller than either of us! I remember when we picked Alton from the littermates who were remaining, I tried to consider size as a factor in choosing. I asked the owners where in the pecking order Alton was born. Then I tried to deduce his growth rate based on how big he was at just four weeks old. In retrospect, it was such a ridiculous speculative projection. She told me he was middle of the pack— not the biggest, but not the runt either. I fell in love with him so quickly I am sure she could have said he was Jabba the Hut, and I would have heard "just right."