My wife picked out Gracie at the shelter in 2013. Marion passed in 2021, and after that it was me and Gracie in the house, and I’ll be honest, that dog is the reason I got out of bed some of those mornings. You have to walk a dog. Grief doesn’t care, the dog still has to go out. I think that saved me.

Gracie went in March. Fifteen and a half. Peaceful, at home, the vet came to us, which I recommend to anyone who can do it.

But here is what I wasn’t ready for: losing Gracie was losing Marion again. Gracie was the last living thing my wife ever chose. The last heartbeat in this house that Marion had loved. When she went, the house didn’t just get quiet. It got finished, somehow. Like the last light going off in a building.

My daughter wants me to visit for a while. I told her I would. I just keep sitting here a bit longer first.