Going through old files, I find your adoption contracts. I smile when I read the part that says, “By adopting the above-described for ownership, adopter is accepting the dog ‘as is,’ with all defects, known or unknown and assumes all risk for this dog. Adopter assumes full responsibility to properly provide for the dog’s care, maintenance, training and companionship.”

I didn’t fully understand the promise, the vow I was making, the full measure of that commitment. And yet even now, knowing how hard those “defects, known or unknown” would land, how much the risk would end up costing me, how loving you would eventually break my heart, I would do it again.