A Family's Best Friend

We went to see Marley and Me this past weekend and I came home so depressed. Yes, I knew the outcome of the movie before we saw it, but I wasn't expecting to relate to it as well as I did. First of all, T and I look so very much like Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson, well, not exactly, but I am a female and he is a male, so we had that in common. All kidding aside, the movie hit really close to home, for you see, we have a Marley here in our house, only her name is Casey.

Casey is our first "child" and has been a loving and loyal dog for 10 years now. Yes, she has stained our carpet a few times and been punished, she's been yelled at a few times as she barked when a baby was napping, and she has been caught more than once getting into the trash. More than that, Casey has spent 27 months laying on my pregnant belly, she has grieved right along side me as I had two miscarriages, she has seen every one of my children brought home from the hospital, and she has had too many days of toddlers pulling her floppy ears and them trying to ride her. I can't say for sure that she has enjoyed all of this, but I do know she knows she is loved. I'm also pretty sure she feels special since she gets to sleep in our bed every night for 10 years now, occasionally even with her head on a pillow and under the covers!

Here are a few pictures of our Casey, a chocolate brown, fuzzy, lovable, cocker spaniel over the years: (I realize the quality of these are not so great, but this was pre-digital camera days)

Baby pictures of Casey:

I think she later got stuck in this pudding cup!

Wrestling with a french fry that is about as big as she. (Clearly, we don't stick to the "no table food" rule)

Casey as a teen:


And here is our pretty girl now, loving us even though we made her pose for this corny picture. Our beloved Casey just might run away if she sees this one:


Doesn't that picture remind you of something?....