It is exactly one week ago to the hour that we put down our beloved sweet dog Josie. I am astonished by how much I miss her. She had been a daily presence in our lives during our entire time at Pepperdine (10 1/2 years). My days would begin with her bounding out of our bed and end with her jumping into our bed as we settled down for the night. In between, she was a full participant in our hectic lives — joining me for early morning tennis at Pepperdine and cardio and weight training in our bedroom, and later for walks in our neighborhood, dinners at our home with students, and beach outings. But my favorite time was the countless hours she slept at my feet while I worked in our dining room — it was so comforting to have her nearby.

I choose to remember the Josie in the photo below, racing toward the setting sun, brimming with excitement at what awaits her, confident that her "binky ball" will magically appear, at just the right spot and bouncing at just the right height for her to jump and catch it in her mouth, so she can trot back to me proud of her accomplishment and drop the binky ball at my feet so I can toss it again and again and again. The difference now is that Josie kept racing toward the setting sun, still brimming with excitement at what awaited her. I take comfort in C.S. Lewis's theology about dogs and heaven, and hope that when my time comes to race toward the setting sun, I will find Josie awaiting me, with a shiny new binky ball at her feet, ready to resume the chase again and again and again.