Maggie

Tim used to tell her, "Your Mom didn't want you." when he was tired of her insistence that it was my lap in which she wanted to sit.

I would agree, move my fingers through her curly black ear hair, and tell her, like I suppose adoptive parents do when explaining the beginning, "It makes my love for you more special, Maggie, for I didn't want just any dog.  I fell in love with YOU."

It was the truth and as far as I can tell she believed me.

She was allowed on furniture and in the bed with an official story that included it was a one room apartment, where else was she supposed to go?  But that was a lie, she was the best cuddler.

and a weasel really, worming her way into a heart that had seen all too many dogs die in the hands of Route 41, sometimes with an audience.

As if love isn't worth it, if it is fleeting?

You showed me.

Your life was long, longer than so many others.  

But life IS fleeting... always.  Because for some, 80 years together wouldn't be enough...nor 150, I suppose.
For others 2 seconds could be plenty.
I will never be sorry that you are part of the some
and never
the other.
Even if I had to miss you so desperately when I left
and now, when you have left me.