I love my job, but it does involve some nights spent away from the family. During this time, I call home as often as I can, but I still miss many of the little moments and details.
When I came home yesterday, my 10 year old daughter greeted me with a big smile and a hug. And then she said excitedly, "I have one more chapter to read in Sounder, I'll be right back." I hadn't known that she was reading it, and it made me pause. At the heart of Sounder is a devoted dog. I was coming home bearing the news that my daughter's dog, Livy, was very sick, and that we couldn't let the dog suffer any more.
I thought, too, to The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, which I read just a few weeks ago. The entire book is about a family's attachment to dogs, and the loyalty that boy and dog has to the other.
There's something about the bond between dogs and humans that inspires literature. I became an early fan of Dean Koontz because of the dog in Watchers. I cried my eyes out as a kid reading Old Yeller. Marly and Me, which I haven't read, is so popular that there is now a children's version.
Today is going to be a rough day, but we'll get through it. I doubt that anyone will write a literary tribute to Livy, but I know that going forward, as my kids read books about the bond between humans and dogs, they will remember their own dog and what she meant to them.
Please tell us some of your favorite books about the bond between dogs and humans. I may in the mood to read a few.
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The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wrobewski, HarperCollins hardcover
Watchers by Dean Koontz, Berkley mass market paperback
Old Yeller by Fred Gipson, HarperCollins paperback
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