the saloons and back rooms of a cloud are where the crowds of mist drink and play cards, relax and quietly place small bets   but if a fight breaks out and turns into a scene of thrown punches and drinks, you know what falls from the sky   usually, however, happy faces pass overhead, laughing or talking to a neighbor, sometimes waving   because most of the time, a cloud is just a cloud

it was Amber who awakened my heart to turn from its blood-pumping duties and guide me through a secret door to a world I knew nothing about   my first dog, Amber, of eager face and happy eyes full of innocence, optimism and dumb radiant joy of a child, hooked and reeled me in   I noticed in her passing, a paralysis descended over me, those hooks, so lovingly embedded while she lived tore free and hurt and were slow to heal   that’s how it happened, I discovered love in a dog,

before your soul loses conventional transportation   before the tires flatten for good, the gears rust shut or the steering assembly has broken for the last time take it out for a spin and often   more than you might want to   why wait till you need the wheels of chairs, Ubers, taxis or friends   if everything still works, don’t garage yourself too often, you know something will stop working   and you risk the possibility that the parts needed to fix it are no longer availabl