Ode to our non human friends

I spent most of a long trip back and forth to the former homestead thinking about some friends lost.  Sometimes we takes friends for granted.  Usually the friends are human, sometimes not.  Most of us have had a friend who was not human, "pets" as they are called.  Our creator certainly knew we would need some unspeaking, loyal non-human companions.  While riding along on these trips, I have time to think and contemplate.  On this trip, my thoughts kept drifting to some of my furry friends lost to only my memory.

I had two friends who recently lost furry friends and when trying to offer my thoughts I always come back to the rainbow bridge poem I have seen many times before.  When I lose a pet, I always wonder if I did enough to meet their needs, gave enough love, paid enough attention to their acts of unconditional, selfless love for me.  When we had a death in our family of a furry one, after burial in the garden, I always told my children that if they closed their eyes and used their imagination they would see all of them in the garden playing together.

So today, going through boxes of old photos, I found one of our family's beloved dogs with my children long ago.  Again, I am brought back to the "Rainbow Bridge" poem.  So for Ol' Gal, Dollar, Goku, Rocco, Callie, Trixie and many, many other family members no longer with us:

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.
When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.
All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind. They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent. His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.
You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.
Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together.... 
Author unknown...