Sappy Stuff about Dogs (or, as Y would call it, The Cheese)

A small miracle has just occurred on campus. There was actually a dog! A real dog! And I got to pet her! Yay!
Ok, so, you must understand my great devotion to dogs, particularly my own babies, to understand the horrors of my deprivation. I got my first dog when I was seven. Maggie, or Pup, as we called her, was a Christmas present, the sweetest present I ever got. I still remember her clumsy puppy-ways as she bounded across the kitchen to see us. She was Beautiful, and oh-so-prescious. When my little brother came along when I was eleven (yeah, I know, more on that later), Pup became the best little Mother-Doggy you've ever seen! We have this Adorable picture of her, up on her hind legs, leaning over, looking into the bassinet to see the baby who, as far as she was concerned, was most definitely Hers. She was the sweetest and most patient of mothers, letting LittleBrother tug her ears, her tail, 'pet' her by slapping her on the head, tolerating all his little baby ways with sweetness, always glad to see him. Very, Extremely, Sadly she died when I was a freshman in high school of a rare, genetic gall-bladder disease.
I got my second dog the summer before my junior year in high school. That was a Hard summer, and I was so glad, when I got back from a church youth-group trip, to see a dancing little puppy in our kitchen. I had to read Tess of the D'Urbervilles that summer, Wretched Book, but Honey would curl up in my lap and dream sweet puppy-dreams while I sat cross-legged in front of the dishwasher. My sweet puppy still remembers every time I come home, still the dancing little girl she was when she was a baby. That's the great thing about dogs, they never hide their affections. On the contrary, they're always happy to show you just how much they love you.
In other words, while petting a Real Dog is not quite the same as kissing my girls, it brings me back to all the sweet times I've had with my darling puppy-girls.