I named my first dog in the deli section of the Preston Royal Tom Thumb when I was 5 years old. We were adopting a beagle puppy (probably because of Snoopy). My mom had been bugging me to think of a name, but nothing was coming to mind.

So, we stopped at the grocery store bakery for a brownie and milk. Sitting there, enjoying my brownie, it dawned on me just how much I loved them. Brownies, that is. And so I called my first dog “Brownie.”

The memories we carry of our pets last a lifetime. In my years as a kid here in Preston Hollow, we had a whole zoo of animals: a dog, a cat, a turtle, fish (both in a bowl and an aquarium), numerous hamsters and three consecutive guinea pigs named “Charlie.”

(My September worship column for Preston Hollow Advocate. Read it here).