Bonus: A World of Our Own

This is everything I wish for Samwise and Emily—and me, too. It is what I wanted for Atticus as well, after adopting an aged Max, who knew too little of freedom in his prior chapters.

I wish for places where we can secret away: places where dogs can still be dogs, and I can feel nearly as untamed.

So give us all the quiet, empty forests, deserts, mountaintops, and beaches. Take us to places where society’s reach has not sterilized the natural, developers have not downed trees and plowed up meadows, where sauntering is still considered an art form that comes naturally, and play sprouts from the heart.

We were caught in a lively squall the other day. Considering the upcoming weather forecast, I knew it might be our last snow of the year. It was downright ethereal, with fluffy flakes and a carousing December wind. All the better to make the forest an enchanted place of our own.