I was so excited when my husband and I bought our house in 1997, because I could finally have the Collie I'd wanted my entire life. Almost immediately we adopted Sadie, a beautiful, sweet girl who stole my heart the first moment we met. After a year of loving her, we decided she needed a brother, and we adopted Rex, a young Golden Retriever. Rex and Sadie were the best of friends, and you never saw one without seeing the other. Sadly, Sadie passed on in the spring of 2005. Rex, like all of us, was inconsolable. He mourned for the rest of his life - at first, he just lay in her favorite spot and cried. After a few months he stopped looking for her, but whenever he saw a Collie - in person, on TV, or even a toy - he went crazy! I know he never got over losing his best friend.

Last summer I had a severe allergic reaction to seafood and had what some would call a "near death" experience. I was in bright room that was filled with people - my father, grandparents, friends, cousins, aunts, uncles - all my loved ones who had passed away. In the middle of the crowd was Sadie, and she was so happy to see me! There was no sign of the sickness that took her from us; she was restored to her former beauty. After a brief conversation with a dear friend who had recently died, I said, "I have to go; they're calling me." He said, "Don't worry about us, we're fine. And we'll be here waiting when you get back."

When I awoke in the hospital I was still very sick, but so, so happy! I told my husband what I saw, and I said, "Sadie was there, so I know it was real!" I'd always believed the old saying that all dogs go to heaven, and now I know it's true!!

Two weeks ago, after a brief and terrible illness, we lost Rex. Although I miss him terribly and feel as if my heart was torn from my chest, I'm also very much at peace because I KNOW I will see him again! I know that he and Sadie are running in the meadows, just across the Rainbow Bridge, and that when I get there they'll be waiting. I don't know how long it will be, but I know they will wait, and when I finally cross the Bridge and see them again, we'll all be happy for eternity.

And I know that your babies are waiting for you, too, and they'll wait as long as it takes for you to come home.