“No matter how close we are to another person, few human relationships are as free from strife, disagreement, and frustration as is the relationship you have with a good dog. Few human beings give of themselves to another as a dog gives of itself. I also suspect that we cherish dogs because their unblemished souls make us wish – consciously or unconsciously – that we were as innocent as they are, and make us yearn for a place where innocence is universal and where the meanness, the betrayals, and the cruelties of this world are unknown.” ~ Dean Koontz, A Big Little Life: A Memoir of a Joyful Dog

I always miss my dogs, but late last year, I thought of them one day and I found myself uncontrollably sobbing, feeling the weight of the loss of them. It has been over ten years, but on that day, I missed them as though I had just lost them.

I frantically looked for pictures of them, wanting to see their picture as I knew it was the closest I could ever be with them again. Because they lived pre-cell phone camera days, all my pictures of them are from “real” cameras. I found a scanned picture of them on my computer and immediately ordered a framed picture of them.

Now their picture sits on top of my desk. I look at it every day and remember how beautiful life was when they were with me. I miss: petting their soft fur, how they would rub their wet noses on my skin, taking long walks with them, how they would both sleep on the bed with me at night with one part of their body always touching mine, how they always knew whenever I needed them. It was pure love. God, I miss them.