I never know what to say when someone loses their dog. While I feel confident in my condolences after people are gone, there’s something particularly heartbreaking about losing a pet. It’s because our animals give us something that humans don’t always know how to: quiet companionship and unconditional love.
While humans are so fallible, pets are perfection. Their quiet companionship fills our space with noises that console and entertain. The sound of a big sigh. Tiny snores during their afternoon nap while you take that team call. Moving to that spot in between your legs while you’re sleeping. Streeeetch. All while admiring and loving us unconditionally (but especially when there’s food).
As I traveled to Colorado to spend the weekend with my pups, I was so worried about how much time I was taking off work and feeling behind. I kept myself up late at night and early in the morning days prior telling myself it was all too much – the time, the expenses. The second I heard their whimpers from the cracked back window as they realized I was home to see them, nothing else mattered to me.
A day later, I heard that someone I know lost 3 of their senior dogs within a matter of weeks. I couldn’t imagine walking into the silence of a home with no dogs at the door and still holding myself together. It made my worries feel small to think someday I wouldn’t hear my own dogs cry with glee when I arrived.
As much as bad things have happened at work, there’s a game plan and a fix that becomes clear at some point. Something to do. In the big emotional stuff, it’s not always so clear how we move forward. Dogs are special in that way. They know the value of just being with us. They know how to be our silent, supportive best friends that never leave our side.
Dogs teach us that time is all we get. You can earn money and plan vacations. You can find a tool or team online to do just about anything for you. But you can’t buy time to rest, time to just be with the dogs that make us feel more like ourselves, or time to remember that time is all we get.