Does it bother anyone besides me that your dog never knows your name. "My name is Frank the dog and I don't know the name of the human I live with." He feeds me, takes me for walks, takes me to the Vet, cleans up after me and gives me a nice place to live, but I don't know his name. I know what he smells like. I know the sound of his voice. I know when he's happy, mad, lost in thought, sad, and all his moods. I can tell how he's feeling by the way he calls me, or by the way he moves. I know everything about him cause I live with him and we are the only ones at our house. I listen to him when he tells me to stay on my blanket next to him, while he watches TV. I chew my toy and I watch him. When I first came to our house, I would watch every move he'd make. I was afraid he'd leave me. But he'd come to where I'd be, and speak in a soft voice and touch my head. Now the best thing is when he sits on the floor with me and softly scratches my ears. I put my chin on his leg and we sit there. That's where we're supposed to be. When I was little, I took a walk one day, without him. I just wanted to explore. I couldn't find my way back though. When I heard him call me I ran back to him. He picked me up and held me close to him and carried me home. When we got me home he still held me and spoke to me in the soft voice. And he trembled, like he was cold. Before I fell asleep I heard his heart beating. I remember being near Mom and hearing her heart and how safe I felt there, and how safe I feel now. I'm glad he found me. I thought "What would I do if he forgot where he was supposed to be. Would he hear me bark for him and know the way home? Could I help him find his way home?" Sometimes we go for a long ride and I get to play with my sister Dallas and Uncle Max and Mom and Gus and Tara. Uncle Max and I run all over the place. It's much bigger than where I live. Uncle Max says I'm his favorite Niece. I'm almost as big as he is and I like to run around the ranch with him. Mom says I'm growing up too quickly and sometimes scolds me when I get silly. But she seems pleased with the way I am. Uncle Max and I go out running but most times when we get back, Mom and my person are sitting together with her head on his knee. I think they like each other. Sometimes he talks in the soft voice about another dog. He never says her name. He tells me about things she would do that made him laugh, and made him happy. And he talks to someone named God. Sometimes he tells God how much he misses her. But he always thanks God that I came to live with him. Like I had much to do with that decision. One night I was in the garage. I was almost asleep (or maybe almost awake) when another dog came in. She was very pretty and seemed to know her way around. Somehow I knew, she knew I was there, but she just kept looking around. Then she came over to where I was sleeping. "I used to sleep here, under the workbench, when he would go out for a while. And those marks inside your house on the porch.....I chewed them, years ago, when I was a puppy." Suddenly, I knew who she was, and I was afraid. She told me not to be. She wasn't there to take him away. "We had many years together. We went many places. And he was very kind to me." She told me how she found him and how he took her home. And how he taught her to sit, stay, come and all the things he was teaching me. She told me that she had taught him a few things too. Like how to leave things at work and not to be angry with her when he came home. "Has he ever hit you?" I told her no. "I taught him that too". "When you go for walks, what side do you walk on?" I said his left. "I walk on his right. I always did, and always will." She spoke for some time about their lives together, and I realized why he was so sad when he thought of her and when he spoke to God. She read my thoughts. "That's why I'm here, Young One. To tell you what you need to teach him." "I'm barely house trained...What can I teach him, that you couldn't?" "I taught him to love. You must teach him to love, again." "Where do you live now?" "In a place where I'm always safe and warm. The sun comforts me, the grass is soft and green, there's shade and cool water. It's a wonderful place. I live in his heart. And I listen to his heart beat." Is there room for me too? Do I have a small place there too? Yes, Young One, a small place all your own. And it will grow as you grow together. You made your small place the first time you licked his hand and the first time you fell asleep in his arms. And everytime you make him laugh, and nuzzle him when he comes home, your place grows. There's room for both of us here. I thought for a moment and then asked her, "Will I ever be in the place you are now?" "Someday, Young One, you will join me here. " We remained quiet while I thought about the wonderful place she spoke of, and realized if I was there, who would care for him? She seemed to glow brighter as she sensed my fear. She nuzzled me like mom did. "Then you and I will find another for him, and we will watch over both of them as I watch over you both now. And we will wait for them in this place. When the day comes when he is to join us, he will hear us barking to him, and find his way home to us." "When we are together again, will have voices like Men do. Together, we will go to another place, and you and I will say to The One we will meet 'This is the man who cared for us on earth. He was kind to us there.' And The One will know we are telling the truth, because when He created dogs, before he sent us to befriend Man, he said 'You can only be Truthful. It is your only commandment'. And we always have been. And in that wonderful place, we will be together every day. For where we will be, will be Heaven." "A voice like his?" "Yes, Young One. And then you will then know his name. And mine." With that she glowed brightly, then gently melted away. That was a while ago. I'm happy now that I know we will always be together. Sometimes I see her when we go for walks. He doesn't see her but I think he knows she's there, walking on his right side. I see her in the reflection in the glass when we ride in the truck. And when he and I play frisbee or catch, I see her off in the distance, waiting for the day when we will play together. On the day when we all go to see The One, and I get my voice, I think the first thing I will say will be "thank you".