i started with mister around the same time as hilde, and i think she was  a little older, like a year and a half older, and she's still here and mister's been gone a year, and hilde's riding in mister's cherriot. it's funny to measure yourself in dog lives, to live in dog years, and it makes sense, we think dog life is too short and our life is long, maybe measured in many dogs even though there is usually one, or if we're lucky, two, we love quintessentially. like hilde and mister who shared a cherriot and me.