It’s time to say goodbye to our partner in crime of over seven years, our dog Chip. We decided last night after another too-close-for-comfort incident with our daughter Kirra that he would be better off in a loving home with no children.

Coy and I are sad because he’s been with us from nearly the beginning. We brought him home in the spring when we lived in Ohio. We hauled him all the way to Florida, then to Texas, and back to Florida again. He has seen us at our best and at our worst. He has been a loyal watchdog and try to warn me when I almost caught our apartment complex on fire. He’s sat patiently at my side through tears and even moments of neglect (like when he really had to go outside but I was immersed in working on my book and would ignore him). He’s been our best friend and we’re sad that his personality limits him from being with us through Kirras younger years. We just can’t take the chance with him. He likes to sleep uninterrupted and anyone who has children knows that the words sleep and uninterrupted can never go in the same sentence again.

We’ll both really miss him.