Ivan

I grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina, just inside the beltline. I went to a small school in a spread out community. As you can imagine friends were hard to come by. To get from Point A to Point B a car was the only possible way. So for most of my childhood during free time I just stayed home. But that wasn’t atrocious or even bad; home wasn’t a stodgy place where kids go to do nothing. Home was fun and exciting, my home was an exceptional place.

What made my house great and fun and exciting was Moonpie and Arlo. They aren’t circus clowns or video games or TV shows. Moonpie and Arlo don’t have the latest processors and better versions of them don’t come out next year or the year after that or even the year after that. Moonpie and Arlo are my two favorite dogs and they will always be my two favorite dogs.

I grew up with Moonpie and Arlo; they are my guardian angels and act like a shield of protection. They always share my delights, my angers, my passions and every feeling in between. I never remember a time when neither Moonpie nor Arlo would not have my back. Nor do I remember a time when they relinquished me.

I cannot thank Moonpie and Arlo enough, I owe incomprehensible amounts to both of them. They do not only serve as friends but also as mentors, guardians, sponsors, a listening ear and the list goes on. I would move mountains for them just as they have done for me.

I have had horrendous nightmares about losing them. I know it will happen, one day I’ll move off to college and barely ever see them again or one day they’ll pass away. Either way I would lose my best friends and I have to be prepared for that. But whatever happens first I will always know that they will still be watching over me. And one day I will tear up and tell the story of the two greatest dogs one could ever ask for. Whether I tell that story to my children or grandchildren I will make sure that it is passed on, because Moonpie and Arlo deserve every bit of their legacy being passed on.

As for now Moonpie and Arlo have continued to be the sensational dogs that I have always expected of them, and I hope that will not change in a long time. For that is the purest relationship a human can have.