In 1997, Jane and I were starting our relationship. She already had two wonderful labrador retrievers Max and Bailey who were the big happy glue between us. So it came as a surpise one Sunday morning that she circled an ad in the paper and said she wanted to get a girl dog.

Soon we were meeting the sellers in the parking lot. Harriet, who was yet unnamed, was in the back of their pickup truck. We brought Max and Bailey in our truck to be sure they would get along. The little brown puppy leaped out of the truck bed, fell on the ground, got up and came running over to play with the big dogs. She was excited and so were we. We took her home and since that moment we said, "She fell out of the truck and into our hearts."

The baby girl projected a strong personality from the start, so we named her Harriet which means mistress of the household. Sometimes she was the mischief of the household so we started calling her the Evil-Doer. The little 20 pound girl stole bones from each of the 80 pound boys who did not know how to protest or defend against her. One Sunday morning she ran across the street into the open front door of the neighbor's house and stole some bacon off their counter. Luckily she ran back before anyone detected her. One road trip we took the dogs hiking, and as we pulled in to the park we were surprised to see from the truck a dog there that looked just like Harriet. That's because it was Harriet who leaped out of the window without a sound because she was so excited to go hiking.

With affection she developed many nick names: Beautiful Baby Girl, BBG, Harriet the Spy, HT Spy, Evil-Doer, Shatiqua, Farfel, the Super Model, the Stink Stole, Little Sister, Miss Thing, Miss Fish, Fishy Girl. Daddy's Girl. Mummy's Girl.

She went everywhere with us. She was in our wedding at the Driskill Hotel in Austin in 1999. She traveled all over Texas to many triathlons and marathons. She loved Enchanted Rock and the Turkey Creek trails. She went to Florida many times to visit her cousins Jake and Roscoe. She went to New York and New Jersey. She stood on top of the Continental Divide in Colorado.

She was a big part of our family. Little sister to Max and Bailey. Big sister to Mookie and Satchmo. Unfortunately, she left us far too soon. She developed some inoperable tumors. She knew her time had come long before we knew.

So we remember her fondly. We miss her. The big hair. The yellowy eyes with the long eye lashes. The purple collar with the big gem stones. The pointy nose up in the air sniffing the breeze. When we see a red star in the morning, we say hello to the Beautiful Baby Girl who is in our hearts always.