I have to grade papers and I have a dog...

Max: When I was seven my parents brought home a cat for the whole family. He name was Maximilian. He was a pure bred Persian... like that meant anything to me; but I guess it made him special. He looked like he was hit in the face with a frying pan; I liked his smushed face...

He became my best friend over night, and I was even willing to share him with the rest of the family as long as they knew he was my cat. We three kids played with Max like he was the family dog, [but he was still a cat]. I figured out as a kid that I was a cat person. I wash't really into dogs. In fact, they often scared me...

Max was bold, independent, and very un-feline; I liked how he would walk into a room like he owned it and would sit down in the middle of everything, unbothered by the chaos of the world. When I was in college he died and I felt more sad than when my grandmother had died f few years earlier. I felt guilty for that, but it was the truth. I do not feel guilty anymore, as I have come to realize what a best-friend-pet means to a child, especially when that child is sad...

Dillon: So two years ago (in March) my wife brought home a dog (I am a cat person you see). The arrival of this dog was against my wishes, but he is now our dog. In fact, "he is the best dog... because he is our dog." I am still a cat person and think the idea of being the crazy cat lady is a pretty cool reincarnation for me.

But our dog is pretty awesome. I found a comic by a women in England named Kelly Angel that sums up "the power of Dillon" on a day when I have to do a lot of work and do not want to... [I think I will choose the dog and family-fun over work today]...

Kelly Angel 

"Natural Remedy"