Ever own a dog? Most of us have. I always feel that a dog owns you, not the other way around. Dogs lives are too short...too short, but you know that going in. You know the pain is coming, you're going to lose a dog, and there's going to be great anguish. So you live fully in the moment with them, never fail to share their joy or delight in their innocence, because you can't support the illusion that a dog can be your lifelong companion. There is such a beauty in the hard honesty of that, in accepting and giving love while always aware that it comes with an unbearable price. Maybe loving dogs is a way we do penance for all the other illusions we allow ourselves and for the mistakes we make because of those illusions. I hope I can always have a dog by my side, even as I grow into an old man. The love in a dog's eyes can even take the edge off of that, and can even give you a reason to keep going, to know you just can't let them down.
If it doesn't already show, I miss the dogs that have gone on to the other side of the rainbow bridge, and I hope they are waiting for me when I cross.

Dedicated to JAKE, JAZMINE, CHESTER, TAZMO, AND ALL THE OTHERS.