The T word

One of my best friends in the world no longer lives near me. She's fun to be around, loves to play games and always makes me laugh. Always. And I miss her like crazy.

She only goes by her first name but when called, she always runs over to me. Whether I am in a good mood, bad mood, or something in between, I always cheer up upon seeing her. I can talk about anything with her and she just sits there and listens.

But most importantly, I can trust her. I am convinced of her loyalty and dedication to me and the rest of the family. It is such a comforting feeling to have someone like that in your life -- and it is important. Because without trust, you have nothing more than a pile of dirt.

I am talking about my dog Mocha, who lives with my parents in Massachusetts. It is amazing at how excited she gets when I come home, even though I moved to the Washington, DC metro area 1.5 years ago. When I made a surprise visit home for Thanksgiving (I drove ALL night and showed up at my aunt and uncle's house), Mocha went crazy when she saw me. And when I am home in a few weeks for Christmas, she will do the same thing.

Why am I telling you this? Besides the fact that I wanted to mention Mocha in this space, I am trying to highlight a more important issue: trust.

We all need someone in our life to trust, someone in whom we can confide. That could be a spouse, friend or a teacher. Or it could be a pet. An animal's loyalty to its owner is unprecedented, as this story proves (read it, great stuff). A pet does not lie, does not cheat and does not do anything to break that solid bond.

For the past few months, I have done a lot of thinking on the issue of trust. Some very awful things happened to me and as a result, I was forced to end something that was once a very important part of my life. But I am perfectly OK with my decision and I stand by it. Not that I needed any closure, but writing this column has made me feel even better about how I decided to handle the situation.

So if you are feeling down about something or need to talk to someone, feel free to call your dog over, have him or her sit down, and start talking. It works.

Trust me on that one.



On another note, I have decided to moderate the comments you guys post. I hate to do it, but some people like to ruin the family-oriented atmosphere I have established here with some moronic comments. I still want you all to leave a note and instead of it appearing on the page right away, it will go through me first. I am a journalist and stand by our First Amendment right to freedom of speech, but I have to do this. I promise you that your comments will be uploaded -- I just need a filter to get rid of a few unnecessary ones.

-Jason