Vegas is 1

Today is Vegas's 1st birthday.

To Vegas:

So much has happened in my life this past year--most of it hasn't been that great--but the addition of you has been the highlight. You barked, chewed, clawed, and whined your way into my heart.
Your crazy escape artist stunts constantly make me wonder if we should have waited to name you--we would have gone with Houdini. You give new meaning to the question, "What's in a name?"
Unlike Luckey, you never nipped at my toes but you can't bear to be left alone and bark non-stop in my absence. You also damage everything you can sink your puppy teeth into. That irksome behavior however doesn't compare to the fact that you will mark (aka pee) on anything that is newly added to pre-existing space: this includes laundry bags, grocery bags, trash bags, and travel bags.
You always throw up in th car. I don't know if it's just the way I drive of it you just suffer from motion sickness, but it truly hampers Luckey and my vagabond nature--so you get left behind for the greater good more often than not. But I always regret leaving you when I come home to the havoc you've wrecked.
Just when I am at my wit's end with you, you sense it, so you climb tamely into my lap and vigorously lick my face. It's the kind of apology even a hardass like me can't resist. Your eyes are always curious, your face forever upturned, if not for your devil antics you'd be an angel.

I've learned a lot about the kind of person I am through you. Unlike Luckey you try my patience and I've learned that I have it in me to wait it out and handle these annoyances with grace and poise. You've shown me a patient side of myself I would never have believed existed.
I miss you when you are gone. I notice your absence when I'm alone with Luckey. I think he revels in that time without you but I feel a void which your unpredictable behavior unfalteringly fulfills without fail.

You're the Ying to our Yang. In your difference from us, you complete this family that we've become. I love you.

Happy Birthday, Vaygee!
Love,
Mama