The Behind Story on "Dear Kim"

I wrote Dear Kim when my little dog Spring was still with me. He came into my life through someone we knew, whose dog had just had puppies. They knew we'd always wanted one and offered him to us, and he arrived like a gift.

But before Spring, there was another dog. An acquaintance gave him to us while their child was away at camp, without telling the child. Within days I'd fallen completely in love with him, and then three days later they called and took him back because their child wouldn't stop crying. It was my birthday. I was devastated, and we never spoke to that family again. My parents felt so bad that they started looking for a dog we could actually keep, and that's how Spring found us.

At first we didn't bond easily. I was still too sad from losing the other dog to really open up to him. Then one day I came home to find he'd knocked over the trash and made a mess of everything, and in a moment I'm not proud of, I told my family I couldn't keep him. We gave him to a friend that same night. The next morning the friend called before sunrise to say Spring had cried the whole night through and nobody slept. We brought him home that morning, and he was with us for sixteen years. My mom went to pick him up that morning, and he never forgot it. She was his favorite for all sixteen years we had him.

I loved him deeply every single day, even knowing he never loved me as much as he loved her, and I think deep down I always felt that was my fault. A few years before he passed, life got hard and I couldn't be as present with him as I wanted to be. I kept telling myself I'd make up for it once things got better. But before that happened, Spring got sick. His teeth became infected and he needed multiple surgeries, and when another surgery became too risky because of his age, we brought him home and loved him through whatever time we had left. He passed in my arms, and I felt his heartbeat stop.

More than a year and a half has passed and I still tell him I love him every day. I hope he forgives me, and I hope he knows how much he was loved. I want to believe he's somewhere out there waiting, because without that, the grief would feel impossible. I wrote Dear Kim when we were both still healthy, out of pure love for him, and I dedicated it to my mom because I know that's what he would have wanted. If you're reading this after losing a pet of your own, I hope you know it's not forever. It's only goodbye for now, just like me and Spring.

The Real-Life Inspiration Behind "Mr. Monkey Loves You"

When I started writing Mr. Monkey Loves You, I had my dad in mind from the beginning. He doesn't always say the right thing or show love in the most obvious ways, but you know deep down he'd do anything for you. Growing up, I never doubted that he loved me, but I often felt he loved me in his own version of love rather than in the version I needed, and that gap became the seed of this entire story.

That's really what Mr. Monkey is about. Loving someone isn't just about giving, but also about understanding. You might think you're being thoughtful, but if you never took the time to really know the person you love and just keep bringing them flowers without realizing they're allergic, that's not love. That's just doing what you want to do. Mr. Monkey learns this the hard way, and so do a lot of us.

What makes him special to me is that even when he gets it wrong, he doesn't give up. He stumbles and there are moments when everything feels heavy, but he gets back up and tries again with a little more understanding than he had before. I think most of us can relate to that. Most of us have loved someone and still somehow gotten it wrong.

When the book was done, I gave it to my dad and told him it was kind of about him. He read it, guffawed, and said, "See? Because of me, you ended up writing a real good story. So being the way I am, it's not all bad." And he was right.

So for anyone reading this, please don't assume you know how the people in your life want to be loved. Talk to them and ask them, because that's a huge part of love.