Dear Frieda. Happy Valentine’s Day.

I wanted to read this to you tomorrow, and to share it, because my love for you has become a special thing, different for me and very powerful. We have been through a lot, you and I. When we met, I thought you were going to take me apart and scatter pieces of me along the road. Your purpose in life seemed to be to protect Maria from you, and to keep me away from her.

We had quite a trip together you and I. I have just finished a book about it, “Frieda and Me, Second Chances,” which will be published next year, but I think how far we have come and how much I have come to love and admire your loyalty, courage and love. You had to live in a barn for a year while I  worked with you and assembled your story. I think of you abandoned in the Adirondacks for those years, and chained up in an auto repair shop yard day and night. And how it took them a year to catch them, and of how you saved those lives. All for the book.

It is difficult, looking at you know, to even remember those first days. You sit by my feet and guard me, day and night, and I am safe, I have to say. You still are a handful, still raise hell, still chase trucks, run off when you can, eat skunks and rabbits and  raccoons if you get the chance. You remind me always that you are a dog, but more than that you are a great and loving heart, and I am so flattered and grateful to have earned your trust. I appreciate the ways in which you have opened my eyes to the different ways in which a dog can be wonderful and for showing me more about patience and trust.  I could not have a more faithful and loving companion. Thanks for loving Maria and for protecting us. Happy Valentine’s Day. I like to say you are the only real man in the house!