A year ago, my best friend (pictured above) of 12 years was dying and I didn’t know it. I went to a concert one day and when I came home I found her unresponsive under my dining room table. I’ll never forget the feeling of her soft little ears or the way we would share watermelon together on the days leading up to her passing. The heartbreak is still the same as it was the day I found her and I don’t see the pain ever going away. I am forever grateful for the time she shared with me, the tears she dried, and all the times she listened when no one else would from the time I was 8 until I was 20.

For anyone who knows this pain, recent or not, I hope you know your furry friend loved you to their last breath. You never have to let go of that feeling of safety and love that they gave you.