Ara - loved but not missed, much anyhow

Ara, we loved you. But I am so glad I don't have to smell you anymore. I could always count on you to keep us awake in a lightning storm, and I really enjoyed coming downstairs to discover your new project for that evening in shards lying beside you. Heck, I even cleaned my floor, oh pardon, your toilet without even thinking of dropping the hammer on you. And I will surely miss the neighbors ringing my bell with a look of disgust as they inform me that you have wound yourself around your chain and your dog house and appear to be dying on the side of my hill. I had even just spent a couple hundred clams on you this summer to make you happy and content, not to mention stop the barking. But I guess the final joke was on me as you drove off to the great doggy heaven in the sky b/c I had to explain to the kids why you were never coming home again. While I seemed relaxed only a moment before, the kids seemed oddly saddened. And when Michelle and the kids cried themselves to sleep every night for a week, I think I felt a pang of guilt for losing you. I guess you had more of our hearts than I realized. We love and will miss you! (Some more than others though).