We all live on paths, our lives are a series of paths, many of them disconnected from one another. As long as I have lived on my farms, I have walked my dogs on paths, paths are a living memoir of my lives with dogs, they are mirrors of the different chapters in my life with animals.

Many people mark the anniversary of their dog’s and cat’s deaths, I do not, I mark the joy and meaning my dogs who are living bring me every day. We are living on a new farm with new paths, and it brings me great happiness to see a new generation of happy dogs running and sniffing and positing for against a sunlight forest in the fall. Behind them, a parade of ghosts – Rose, Orson, Izzy, powerful animal spirits who are no longer with me but who are with me all of the time.

I do not mourn their loss, I give thanks for my time with them, and acknowledge the gratitude I feel for having other dogs who are just as wonderful and challenging and spiritual in their own way. How is it that my dogs all love these paths, and I love walking on them with them? It can’t be an accident, cant it. We get the dogs we need, they guide us through the phases of life, if we are open to it, we mirror one another, each becoming what the other wants.