Last night my sister sent me a message that she was taking her cocker spaniel Daisy to the emergency animal clinic. Daisy is very old and has been having some serious health problems. Awhile later Daisy passed away. I wanted to tell Daisy's story as we know it.

Our family used to own a restaurant in Sweeny, Texas. There was a black cocker spaniel that kept hanging around the front of the restaurant and didn't seem to have a home. After a few days of this, my sister took the dog home and named her Daisy. We didn't know how old Daisy was but she appeared to be a fairly young adult dog.

My dad never allowed animals in the house. But he let Daisy live in their house. He loved that dog. When he was a little boy, he also had a black cocker spaniel whose name was Inky. He was always partial to cocker spaniels. One day I went by my parents house to visit and my mom led me upstairs. She motioned for me to be quiet and then she pointed through the open bedroom door at my dad taking a nap on his bed. And Daisy was lying right beside him with her head on the other pillow. Oh how I wish I had a picture of that right now but I had no camera with me at that time.

About a year after Daisy came to live with my sister and my parents, I was pregnant with our daughter. My sister would bring Daisy over to my house to visit and Daisy would get in my lap and wrap herself around my belly. It is as if she sensed that there was a little person inside me and she wanted to be as close as possible.

Daisy lived all these years with my sister and was her constant companion. She was there when my dad was dying of cancer. She would get in the hospital bed with him and guard him from something we couldn't see.

Oh Daisy, we will all miss you terribly. I hope you are now happy and pain-free living in doggie heaven. We will bury you in Mississippi in the family cemetery next to my dad.