To the newest addition to the family,

There was one before you.

Riley Johnston

He came on a snowy Christmas Eve and left on a rainy spring day.

He was our first.

He held and still holds a big piece of our hearts. We were broken when he left us, but it was his time. He wasn't suffering anymore.

Two years went by and I, for one, still got tears in my eyes when I thought of him. I didn't know if I had the strength to love another the same way I loved him yet.

Then you came.

You were alone and scared and sick and broken. You survived a horrific start in life and still held a wondrous joy in your soul. You were ours before we even said yes.

You are different than the first.

You play with his old toys and sleep where he slept but you are not the same. You eat where he ate, play where he played, and sniff where he sniffed.

Yet, you are different.

You are different, but you love the way he loved. You strive to make us happy the way he did.

You weren't the only one saved. You saved us too.

You wiggled your way into our hearts just like he did, and although you may be our second and my heart still hurts for our first, you are and never will be second best.

Thank you for coming into our lives and loving us the way he did and letting us love you the way we loved him too.

Milo Johnston