Because of the novel, I am being exposed as a mystic/spiritualist and this is so. In the last few years, I have come to believe in the nature of dogs and other animals as spirit guides. They enter our lives for a reason, and they leave for a reason. While here, they guide us to places we cannot go ourselves, open doors for us if we let them, take us on paths we are too dim or fearful to go on ourselves. My dogs are spirits. Rose led me to my life on the farm, Izzy brought me deep into the souls of humans on the edge of life, and Lenore taught me how to love purely and without judgement or condition. My spirit guides.