This is my dog Nigel. He was named after Nigel Tufnel of Spinal Tap.

He was a good Boi. I met him at six weeks old. He and his litter mates were round as bowling balls. A tsunami of fluff and puppy breath. Nigel ate my shoelaces like spaghetti. He was mine.

In the intervening years he ate (a partial.list): my friend's alligator wallet with $20; a pack of Angus hamburgers from the kitchen counter (he evidenced no guilt at all); my husband's dress shoes; the head of my son's superman doll; a bunch of other things. We forgave him.

He had two operations for cancer, and had his eye removed because of a tumor. He could still catch a Frisbee on the fly!

I am a vegetarian. Before I married Nigel's snacks were cherry tomatoes and baby carrots. After I married, my husband taught him the merits of pastrami and Angus beef.

He lived fifteen wonderful years. See the stick in the second picture? He could find a stick on the moon! After the picture was taken we went to McDonald's and he had a cheeseburger. He even ate the pickles. We then went to the vet and helped him over the rainbow bridge.

I woke up this morning and my first thought was "where's Nigel?" We moved to another state twenty years ago, a year after he left us. He never lived here physically but he still lives in my heart.