Are you waiting for me?

It's been almost a year since you had to leave. I think about you every day. I wonder where you are right now. I wonder if you're running around at the Rainbow Bridge, all happy and full of play, healthy and strong just like you used to be. Knowing you you're probably bullying the other dogs, showing them who's boss. I can picture you playing tug of war over a big stick with a big rottweiler and never giving up, just like before you were plagued with illness and old age, when your bones were still strong and your body free of tumors. I hope you were happy living with us, and I hope you knew, and still know, how much your mommy loves you and how much you enriched our lives. I wonder if you're waiting for me at the Rainbow Bridge. When the day comes, will you come running towards me as fast as you can, tail wagging and eyes smiling? I can picture it. Paws running through the green grass, the wind flying through your beautiful fur, your mouth open in a wide grin and the tongue hanging out. If you do, I'll wrap my arms around you and press my face into your fur just below your ear, where your fur is the softest and you smell like you. I'll inhale your scent and nuzzle you and feel your warmth and softness, just like before. Then we'll play some tug of war with a stick, your very favourite game. Make up for lost time. I wish I knew just where you are, so I would know for certain that we will see each other again, since the thought of never seeing you again is too much to bare. A lot of people wouldn't get it. You were "just a dog", they'd say. But anyone who's ever had a dog that they loved just as much as they were your own child would get it. Anyone who feels happiness and tranquility when they look into a dog's eyes would get it. Those of us who get so much more out of a pure creature like a dog than we do out of people know that your dog could never be "just a dog". As any devoted dog owner knows your dog occupies a special corner of your heart, and when they die it breaks and you feel like you will never be the same again. So I hope you're up there waiting for me at the bridge, and that you're not missing me too much but are too focused on play and making friends to think of me, but that you still look down on me every now and then and even make your presence known. Are you waiting for me my crazy, wonderful girl?