"I just love it!" the old man exclaimed as he saw the little dog racing through the forest.

"Oh my gosh!" the slender elderly lady next to him on the trail gasped in surprise. "You know

who that is Johnathan?!" she exclaimed in surprise.

"Well look here," the other, shorter elderly lady laughed as she caught up with the couple

working their way up the trail. "That’s that silly little Sam, Emma’s dog," she exclaimed in

delight as they all watched in amazement while the little dog raced through the bushes, hot on

the trail of his third squirrel in 20 minutes. He raced through the bushes and undergrowth in this

wonderful old growth forest, chasing this direction and then back down the hill that direction,

absolutely overjoyed at the boundless energy bursting at every seam.

"Oh look at that!" Grandma Iona exclaimed... "well of course, he gets to run on all four legs!!

Oh how wonderful for that little dog. He was such a trooper, never complained about having to

run and chase with only 3 legs. I’ll bet he doesn’t even know what to do with that 4th leg," she

added.

"Heh, heh," Grandma Abigail laughed in agreement, "I’ll bet it just gets in his way for a while."

But not for long as the joyful little dog dived through a stand of bushes and charged off into

more brush in pursuit of a rabbit this time. For Sammy the world was alive, fresh, exciting and

new. His sense of smell was keen again. He could see - why, almost everything out there with

the cataracts gone and his vision restored. His body was alive and the world was exciting again!

Wait, what was that? Did he hear someone whistling off in the forest? His hearing was nearly

perfect again, and sure enough, "whew, whew.... whew, whew!!" he heard over there where the

trail crossed the stream. "Oh wait, there were people over there!" he thought to himself, now

breaking into a run, racing to see them. "I’ll bet it’s my Mom and Pop" he thought bursting from

a wonderful fern patch to surprise the little trio sitting on rocks by the creek.

Racing up to them, Sam immediately recognized the three as his wonderful grandparents, a

group of folks he hadn’t seen in a long, long time.

"Ohhhhhhh look at you!!" Grandma Abigail exclaimed.

"Ohhhh Sam!" Iona cried out for joy, "How very, very wonderful to see you again, wonderful

little doggie!" she exclaimed, a tear forming as she realized that there were some very broken

hearted children standing on the "other side" suffering his loss.

"Well, look at you Sammy boy," Grandpa Johnathan chimed in. "It’s been a long, long time

funny little dog. I’ll never forget when we were on that ride in the mountains, and you took

those cookies and went off to bury each one.... weren’t going to eat them..., just taking them off

to bury them. What were you thinking Sammy boy? Either you were going to bury them for

later.....,"

"Or maybe he was going to clean up the forest, get rid of the trash..." Iona chimed in. "What a

wonderful little fella to have with us."

"...and he was always there!" Grandma Abigail added. "Seems like every single place we went

that Emma would have that little dog right there in the car with us. Just like one of the kids."

"Oh my, oh my, oh my!" Sam exclaimed in his best Yorkshire Terrier way, jumping up and

gleefully licking and reveling in his wonderful Grandparent troop. He was so delighted to see

them that he almost forgot that he was really looking for his Mom and Pop. "Well where are

they?" he asked in a way that they seemed to understand. "Where are my Mom and Pop? They

were right there with me, right next to me, holding me even, and we were on a long, long ride in

the van.... and there was a squirrel right outside the window where I laid down... and now...

NOW!! I’m Soooooo Alive!!! Wow!! I just feel fantastic!! Did you notice Grandma! I have a

fourth leg!!! I can fly through the brush after those squirrels!!! It’s fantastic!!

The grandmas and grandpa all smiled at him, and nodded to each other. Looking back at the

little dog, they all gently patted him, assuring him that it was okay. "Your Mom and Pop..." Iona

started, another tear forming in her eye.

"Your Mom and Pop love you so very, very much Sammy," Abigail added. "We should have

paid a little closer attention, because it seems that you must have become ill."

"So, little buddy," Johnathan continued, "your Mom and Pop are just there on the other side, and

you took the leap, stepped right on over to our side of the story. It’s really the most amazing

thing"

"Welcome to the new life on the Other Side Sam," Iona joyfully concluded, greeting him to his

new world. "Some call it Heaven. Some call it Nirvana. Many refer to it as the Afterlife, which

is silly because it’s really the Real Life which we always come back to after that miserable tour

of duty on the earthly plane."