Happy Birthday!

Today is K's birthday. The years have flown by since she arrived as a heartbreakingly cute puppy.When she arrived, our older Labrador, Astro, was 15 years old. Although he no longer frolicked like a puppy, he took K under his paw and guided her.
K and I bonded almost instantly. Although I protected and guided her as a puppy, K seemed to start feeling responsible for me as quite a young dog. As she became a teenager, she already could melt my heart by looking into my eyes.
When K was less than six months old, Astro peacefully passed away. Astro's death triggered K's first round of fears - incomprehensible terrors of specific benign-looking places in the house and a crate that she'd used for months.

At about the same time, S began spending a lot of 'vacation' time at our house, and we noticed how much he soothed K. Soon, we were requesting that his family loan him to us because we loved having him around. Eventually, S came to live full-time with us, and became K's guiding older brother.For a brief and wonderful time that ended with S's death in May, we had a trifecta of labs. S was the elder statesdog for the younger whippersnappers.
Now, after 6 years of life, K is the eldest member of our canine pack. Thanks to Astro and S, she can stand on her own four paws and is a sage big sister to our young Black Lab, R.
Today, although it was a special day, K and I went for a normal bike ride, saving our annual birthday adventure for another, sunnier day. I owe you one, K. In fact, I owe you more than you can imagine.Happy Birthday!