Internal Dialogue

My dog, Brother, died suddenly. He seemed a little sad the day before and I saw him sneeze a couple of times but I did not think too much of it.
We bought Brother, a border collie, shortly after my first daughter, Sofia, was born. We named him Brother because we said he would be Sofia's only brother. Now just 6 weeks after Sofia's baby brother, Vicente, was born, Brother is gone. He was 5 and a half years old.
We buried him in the back yard. We had a nice little funeral for him where we all shared about the fun we had with him and how much we are going to miss him. We also talked about how we look forward to seeing him again soon.

I tried to explain to my daughter that Brother's spirit is eternal. That the body is like a costume that we wear for a while and then take it off. Later we can pick up another costume if we want. But the real us is eternal and doesn't have to wear a costume. She was comfortable with the idea and is looking forward to getting a puppy.

I am really missing my friend, Brother, today. I do feel we are together still...