From JayPMarine. No original source given.

A traveler, enjoying the scenery as he walked along a road with his dog, suddenly realized he was dead. He remembered dying, and that the dog walking beside him had been dead for years. He wondered where the road was leading them.

After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall along one side of the road. It looked like fine marble. At the top of a long hill, the wall led to a tall arch that glowed in the sunlight. Standing before it he saw a magnificent gate in the arch that looked like Mother of Pearl, and the street that led to the gate looked like pure gold.

He and the dog walked toward the gate, and as he got closer, he saw a man at a desk to one side. He called out, “Excuse me, where are we?”

“This is Heaven, sir,” the other man answered.

“Wow! Would you happen to have some water?” the traveler asked.

“Of course, sir. Come right in, and I’ll have some ice water brought right up.” The gate began to open.

Gesturing toward his dog, the traveler asked, “Can my friend come in, too?”

“I’m sorry, sir, but we don’t accept pets.”

The traveler thought a moment and then turned back toward the road and continued on the way he had been going with his dog.

After another long walk, and at the top of another hill, he came to a dirt road that led through a farm gate and looked as if it had never been closed. There was no fence. As he approached the gate, he saw a man inside, leaning against a tree, reading a book.

Excuse me!” he called to the reader. “Do you have any water?”

“Yeah, sure, there’s a pump over there,”. he said, pointing to a place that couldn’t be seen from the gate. “Come on in.”

“How about my friend here?” the traveler asked, pointing to the dog.

“There should be a bowl by the pump,” came the reply. They went through the gate, and sure enough, there was an old-fashioned hand pump with a bowl beside it.

The traveler filled the bowl and took a long drink, and then gave some to his dog. When refreshed, he and the dog walked back toward the man by the tree.

“What do you call this place?” the traveler asked.

“This is Heaven,” he answered.

“Well, that’s confusing,” the traveler replied. “The man down the road said that was Heaven.”

“Oh, you mean the place with the gold street and pearly gates? Nope. That’s Hell.”

“Does it make you mad for them to use your name like that?”

“No. I can see how you might think so, but we’re just happy that they screen out the folks who would leave their best friends behind.”

Sometimes, we wonder why friends keep forwarding jokes to us without writing a word. Maybe this could explain it:
     When you are very busy, but still want to keep in touch, guess what you do? You forward jokes.
     When you have nothing to say, but still want to keep contact, you forward jokes.
     When you have something to say, but don’t know what, and don’t know how, you forward jokes.
     And to let you know that you are still remembered, that you are still important, that you are still loved, that you are still cared for, guess what you get? - A forwarded joke.

So my friend, the next time if you receive a joke, know that someone is thinking about you today and your friend on the other end of your computer wanted to send you a smile.

There is nothing better than a friend.