I've buried too many animals and some of those creatures are still in my heart. We get attached. Sounds like you and Ben really had a strong attachment. It's great to share that with an animal - sad that we outlive them.

There's a great moment in Michael Powell's Stairway to Heaven where a pilot who went down with his plane arrives in what he believes might be Heaven - a beautiful English countryside with a flowing river as I recall. He seems a bit befuddled at first but once he sees a dog romping he says something like, "Well, that's alright then." That always chokes me up.

Your story about Midnight reminds me of a barn cat that we adopted. Her name was Shadow and she was fierce and very stand offish. She was a good "ratter" who was unhappy living in her previous owner's new situation - a small apartment and we had three acres plus lots of BLM forest land adjoining our property. But she disappeared from our lives for two very long stretches - weeks that stretched into months - and each time when she came back she had undergone a dramatic personality change. She always retained her independence and never became a lap cat for us humans, but the last time after she returned she fell in love with one of our dogs - a huge white German Shepherd - and we would see them cuddled together licking and grooming each other. She was quite the cat, always full of surprises.

Hey, Box, we got a pirate dog too - a German Shepherd we just adopted from the Humane Society. She had a bad infection that prompted them to remove one eye. Doesn't seem bothered by it at all. We also have two geese with blind eyes and one with more or less a peg leg so we got a whole pirate crew. All three of those geese were domestic ones that we rescued from the Rogue River and like the dog they came to us with their injuries.

Here's the whole crew:
German Shepherd named Edith (she came with that moniker and we ultimately decided not to change it).

Two cats (also from Humane Society) - Toulouse Jackson and Lucy Goosey (who has undergone a name change to Tabby - according to my son who likes the Mr. Putter and Tabby books).

Nine Geese: Je 'taime (the queen empress of the flock), Jolly Rogue (missing one eye and his bill had to be rebuilt), Pirate Princess Lily Pudding (she of the "peg" leg), Bugsy (the other one-eyed goose), Lu & Zu (two Brown Chinese - Lu & I have a very close bond), Bon Ouef (offsping of Je 'taime & Bugsy), Lolly & Polly (offspring of Jolly & Lily).

three chickens: no names. I used to name all our chickens, but I recently lost the last one I was really bonded with to a nightime Raccoon raid).