Gift of God - an Angel with Fur
In February of 2005 a gift of God came to live in our house. Her name was Godiva (meaning "gift of God"). She was a magnificent chocolate lab with fantastic brown hair the shade of which was the beautiful progeny of the delightful marriage of dark and milk chocolate. Impossibly, her disposition was even more wonderful. I have had the joy of being around dogs my entire life, and I can say without equivocation that Godiva was the best of all that it means to be a dog and more. She truly was a gift of God. To say that Jennifer, Allison and I were diligent about selecting a dog to become a part of our family would be a gross understatement. We had been through a lot together in seven years as a family of three. We knew that we couldn't just invite any dog to join in this family. No, if we were going to add one to our number, it would have to be just the right one. In an effort to find just the right dog, Allison and I developed a ritual of going to our local pet store every...