It seems as if these dogs – Frieda, Red, Lenore – have been together for years. Frieda seems to completely accept both of them, and Red has stopped trying to lie down on her. He and Lenore have begun playing. I am beginning to edit my next  book (next year) “Me And Frieda: Second Chances,” the story of how Frieda brought Maria and I together and also of my long year training Frieda not to eat all of us. It is a love story, all the way. Me and Maria. Maria and Frieda. Frieda and me. It’s also the story of my falling in love with Maria.

Lenore is a powerful spirit. She suffuses our lives with love and trust. And Red..well, what can I say about Red? More than once I have described a dog as a “lifetime” dog, a once-in-a-lifetime dog. I didn’t know you could have more than one, but I keep coming across them. I have never had a dog like Red. But then, I have never had one like Frieda and Lenore either. On the path, I see the spectrum of animals, of dogs. Of what they do for us, how they make us feel, how they change us, open us up, lead us places. I am lucky in love, lucky in dogs.

There is something to the idea of a “lifetime dog.” Dogs that land in the middle of your heart and soul and rearrange them.