Ask Aunt Foley

Dear Aunt Foley:  Why did God take away my best friend Ruger and leave me with the annoyance called Maxx, who whines all the time and refuses to play with me? Cocoa Puff

Dear Cocoa:  This is one of the most difficult questions to answer.  Why does God take our best friends?   First, keep in mind that God does not take anyone.  We are all born with a specific number of heartbeats, some of us have numbers that are high, and others, like Ruger have numbers that are way too low.

So God didn’t take away your best friend, Ruger just ran out of time on the mortal side of the River of Life, and he is here, with me, and Tanner, on the immortal side, where Tanner serves as Mayor and Ruger as his assistant, albeit one who can’t help but to get into trouble..

I wish you and Maxx got along better.  I wasn’t much of a player with other dogs when I lived on the mortal side.  I would spend most of my time sitting on Mom’s lap and snapping at any other dog, including Pocket, who tried to come near me.  Reading your letter makes me think that maybe I should have played with Pocket more. Then I think Nah!

When she was living with me I didn’t play so Pocket didn’t play.  Now that she’s living with River, who likes to play, she is just now, after a year, starting to play.  So don’t give up on Maxx yet.  His inner pup may still be emerging.

Until then Tanner, Ruger and I will all come visit you in your dreams and play with you all night long.