our Bailey girl

Some of you may know that we lost our sweet boxer dog, Bailey back in August (during the first week of school). Needless to say, this has been tough for our family. She was almost fourteen years old and within the past year or two, had become a permanent fixture on the couch. Now that she is gone, I am realizing that she was also a major fixture in our lives. We miss her so much.

In September of 2002, Trip and I were looking for a dog, particularly a boxer. Someone posted an ad in the Atlanta Journal who was relocating to a small apartment in DC and was looking for a good home for her boxer. I immediately responded and Trip and I found ourselves interviewing against two other families for Bailey. The lady even visited our apartment to be sure it was appropriate. It is a good thing she picked us to be Bailey's new owners because we immediately fell in love with her and would have been crushed if she had gone to someone else. Bailey was playful, mischevious, energetic, and full of humor from the start and we treated her like our child, spending hours playing with her after work each day. She was a good soccer defender and loved to help Trip practice his ball skills. She always accompanied me on my runs by the Chattahoochee River in Atlanta. I will never forget the time she chased Trip's mom's Persian cat to the top of a tree and the nightmare it was to get that cat down. It took Barbara a long time to forgive Bailey for that.

When we moved to Asheville in 2004, Bailey came too. She was at our wedding in 2005 and barked through the entire ceremony. When Harding was born in 2006, I started noticing that Bailey's hair was beginning to gray and she was calming down. Boxers are known for being great with kids and Bailey was exceptionally loving and patient with ours. Anytime I had to go upstairs to nurse a baby in the middle of the night, Bailey came along and kept me company. She always looked worried when one of them was crying, like she thought they were her babies also. She put up with Harding dressing her like his superhero sidekick and tolerated Shelby constantly crawling onto her dog bed and petting and kissing her.

Bailey dog, our quirky, wiggly butt (a boxer trait), faithful companion and family member....we could not have asked for a better pet. Thanks for all the joy you brought to our lives. The couch looks empty without you curled up in the corner. We love you.