Dog Kisses in Heaven

"Bet you can't guess who is here?" This was the usual question one of us would ask as a neighborhood couple walked toward the house. Ultimately this was a rhetorical question. We both knew the excited barks and jumping coming from Sydney and Katie could only mean that James and Charlotte were headed our way. The girls loved to see James and Charlotte. As they were taking their daily walks they would stop and give love and treats to the dogs in the neighborhood. These treats varied from cheese to hot dogs.

You could tell that James and Charlotte enjoyed interacting with the dogs. James was always down on their level and Charlotte was always a little more reserved, but they were both so kind and always smiling.

I will never forget the time we had just pulled up in a small convertible Christian used to have, and the girls hopped out of the car running as fast as they could towards the road. Of course, there was a car coming as they dashed madly toward James and Charlotte who were still across the street. Needless to say we all had quite a scare that day, but it just goes to show how excited they would get. 

We haven't seen James and Charlotte much in the last year or so. I contributed that to the fact that we were busy and maybe they weren't walking as much. They live across the neighborhood, so we wouldn't see them on a regular basis. Christian asked me about them a week ago. The next day I heard that Charlotte had passed.

James stopped by today and talked about Charlotte and the last few months. After being married for so many years, this has been devastating. While I have my doubts about the existence of heaven, I can only imagine Katie and Sydney greeting Charlotte in heaven just as they did when they were here with us.