| Introduction: Once In A Lifetime | | | | painful missing, and the ache of irreplaceable loss. |
| Once in every dog lover's life, if you're lucky, that | | | | "You just made my day," one man wistfully tells |
| special once-in-a-lifetime dog comes along. You | | | | Maggie when she greets him at the coffee shop. |
| know this relationship is golden, a gift from the | | | | Sometimes I see this man keep his distance, and |
| spirit world. You have found a soul mate. Animal | | | | he just nods at me-as though it's too unbearable |
| and human spirits are inextricably intertwined, and | | | | for him to touch the pain of his loss at this |
| you know there will never be another dog that | | | | moment. I imagine his own precious memories |
| comes close to the presence of this one and the | | | | with his dog dancing before his eyes. |
| bond that you share. For me, Maggie is that dog. | | | | "Enjoy every moment you have with her," the |
| You know it when it happens. You think a thought | | | | gentleman at the coffee shop tells me. |
| and your dog responds. She knows what you're | | | | I do enjoy her every moment. I know the day |
| asking of her, even though you never trained her | | | | will come when I will walk in his shoes with that |
| to do it. You recognize that your communication is | | | | mournful longing, when I'll be forced to learn to |
| beyond words, beyond training. How do you | | | | live with her absence. But to know it intellectually |
| explain it? You peer into her eyes and know you | | | | and to live it, I would later find, have nothing in |
| are looking into the depths of a loving, advanced | | | | common. That day, as far as I am concerned, is |
| soul. You may wonder, as I did, who are you in | | | | so far in the distant future it doesn't even exist in |
| there? | | | | my awareness. |
| When Maggie and I are out hiking, running errands, | | | | As a child, I was taught that animals were inferior |
| or just hanging out being "girlfriends," I meet | | | | to humans. We were superior to all life on Earth. |
| several people who have loved and lost such | | | | This teaching was inherent in both culture and |
| powerful relationships with their canine | | | | religion. Maggie helps me challenge that belief. She |
| companions. They recognize that magic between | | | | shows me over her lifetime that she is an |
| Maggie and me, for once you experience it with | | | | intelligent, emotional being with a huge presence. I |
| your dog, you can't miss it when it appears | | | | learn to respect her as a being who I share this |
| before you. I see the longing in their eyes, the | | | | planet with-a different being-not a lesser being. |