On Saturdays, I usually get up early, let  Maria sleep late, and then let the dogs out and come back to bed. This is our time.

At night, Bud sleeps in a crate, Fate stays downstairs near the door and Zinnia sleeps alongside me, slipping onto the bottom of the bed sometimes while we are asleep

When the thunderstorm started booming and the lightning was flashing, I went downstairs and let the dogs in, they were all huddled by the back door. There were lightning flashes everywhere, followed by rumbles and bangs.

I thought I had closed the door downstairs leading to the upstairs.

There more loud thunder booms and dozens of lightning flashes, and suddenly there were three dogs in bed with us, for the first time in our married lives.

And they were slick.

We barely even felt them come on, and that is something for Zinnia, who is already the size of a pony. Fate went to the foot of the bed and curled up, Bud crawled quietly alongside me and borrowed in and Zinnia lay down between my legs and Maria’s.

We have no family nearby and in a sense, these loving creatures are our family, and our love for them is deep and boundless.

I didn’t even know they were there at first.

We let them stay on the bed and all of us went black to sleeping, listening to the sounds of the storm on the roof. It was a sweet half-hour, me, Maria and the dogs all curled up together while all Hell was breaking loose outside.

When the sun finally came out, all three of them melted away and went downstairs, perhaps thinking they got away with something. The truth is, we loved starting the day that way, but it won’t become a habit.