Thank you all. I want you to know that I am not spending my weekned mourning her loss, but rahter I am celebrating her memory. She was a special little dog...people who didn't like dogs, liked Sally. She was the most genuinely joyful animal that I ever had the pleasure to spend time with. Time after time, I saw people drawn to touch her and hold her, and find a smile even in sadness by being in her presence. I don't know how she did it. I wish I did. She was just a silly little dog...but she had enormous heart.

It is really odd, if you think about it. I am such a pessimistic soul. It's not that I have had a bad life, but I've not had a particularly good life either. But Sally, who had been treated roughly at her beginning, came forward into each day with a coyote yowl of enthusisam. She tried to teach me her joy of simple things. I'm a tough pupil; she wasn't completely successful, but she never quit trying.

When her voice was silenced and I saw the joy fade from her, I knew it was time to let her go.

Don't mistake me for a religious person. I am not. But I know with my whole heart that if there is an afterlife, or a karmic destiny, or a heaven, or some transformation beyond this existence, Sally will go on to the best of all worlds.

And all I could wish for any of you is that you have the great good luck to experience in your life someone with such unconditional love. I think we tend to be arrogant enough to discount it if that affection comes from anything other than a human being, but I suggest that love is a pure element, no less valuable for being the gift of a little dog.

I won't waste anymore of your time with this. I know how this must seem to other people. It doesn't matter. I just know how it is for me. I may have had no luck in any other part of my life, but I had great, good luck when Sally appeared and I will never forget the debt I owe her.