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Snoozer, Chicago, IL (2025)

11/26/2025

Lolusia passed away on November 21, 2022. Next day as I was scrolling social media, I came across Tortellini’a profile. “Estimated age - 8 years old, Yorkshire terrier mix, puppy mill rescue, recently gave birth to a litter of puppies. Shows signs of abuse and neglect.”

I scheduled to meet Tortellini on November 23, 2022. What I saw broke my heart. I saw a sweet, gentle and such beautiful soul. She was so scared to meet me, she urinated multiple times as I tried to get close to her. I thought “I need to take her out of here. She won’t make it.”

On November 25th, 2022 with adoption application, references from everyone, their mother and all my vets, adoption fee in hand, and a brand new leash - I drove to Northbrook. Her application had a name change - Bombonica.

In Romanian, Bombonica is a diminutive and affectionate term for a person, meaning “little candy” or “sweetie.” It is used as a term of endearment, similar to “baby cakes” or “candy cane” in English, and is derived from the Romanian word for candy, bombonică.

It’s been three years since she and I ventured on this adventure. She is not house trained, she is extremely skittish. She doesn’t come for pets like every dog I know. She doesn’t climb to share my bed with me. She doesn’t run to me for comfort. Bombonica’s body still shows signs of extreme neglect and her soul carries scars that show you just how much humans bent her spirit.

See, her spirit and soul are not broken. Hard things break. Soft things bend. And Bombonica, as a her name suggests, is the sweetest, most kind and most gentle doggo you will ever meet.

She recently found her voice and you can find her barking up a storm at most random times. Sometimes at 02:00 in the morning, but I’ll take it. She may not run to me for comfort, she may not climb onto my bed, but she climb into my heart three years ago and there is no power in this universe that can ever remove this sweet girl from there.

Three trips around the sun with this jellybean can be converted to-
•94,694,400 seconds
•1,578,240 minutes
•26,304 hours
•1096 days
•156 weeks and 4 days
•36 months
•3 years

Happy gotcha day, my sweet girl! ❤️❤️

11/21/2025

Every year, everything I have ever learned
in my lifetime, leads back to this:
the fires and the black river of loss
whose other side is salvation,
whose meaning none of us will ever know.

To live in this world
we must be able to do three things:
to love what is mortal;
to hold it against your bones
knowing your own life depends on it; and,
when the time comes to let it go, to let it go.

Love knows no dimension, place or time. It transcends the physical world, far past the reaches of our earthly capabilities. Love is a flame of fire and light that will always be my beacon when all else seems to go dark.

And no matter what, love will always find us. Always.

That’s the thing about love. You think it’s gone forever and then it sparkles right back through about a hundred different galaxies to get to you. Lolusia’s love will continue to come thundering across the sky every night and right into my heart. Even though I cannot see her, I will always feel her. Even though she is swirling through the stars on a very, very big adventure to another time and place - I am certain she will continue to find me, as she will assure I remember her lessons of love.

Friendships don’t end - they dance on and endlessly on. Lolusia is my dance now. She was my turbo diesel universe and all the tiny stars within it. And she’ll always be the candle that lights the path on especially dark nights.

To earn the love of an old friend like Lolusia is the greatest gift the universe could ever given me. And so she is gone - and yet she remains. Right here. At my feet. Just like she always was.

She will run just as she did that first day I met her - scampering clumsily towards my feet. Yes, just as she did that first day we met her - when she promised a liftetime of laughter, kindness and adventure.

Lolusia, you are missed so much! 🖤

These three trips around the sun without my sweet girl can be converted to one of these units:
•94,694,400 seconds
•1,578,240 minutes
•26,304 hours
•1096 days
•156 weeks and 4 days
•36 months
•3 years

11/19/2025

PSA: Congratulations on your promotion, Bandito!!!

He was just promoted to Director of Naptime Strategy and is the founder of the Treat Security Program and Head of Squirrel Patrol. Bandit has a strong background in Tail-wagging and Treat Distribution. He has three years of experience in Sniffing and Security Supervision as well and Canine Culture Coordinating and Belly Rubs Receivables.

Congratulations, Bandito! Mom says he’s the best Sub Woofer ever. 💙

13/10 you don’t have to tell Bandit he looks handsome and so dapper in his velvet Royal Navy Blue bow tie.

He knows. 💙

11/16/2025

🐶 Mother, I have had enough of your work shenanigans. Stop this instant and immediately begin massaging my Royal velvet burrito body for at least 30 minutes. Then I require my vanilla butt be fondled and squeezed until I’ve had enough.

10/29/2025

Who wore it better? 😎
Francis aka Storm Pooper says: “Let me out or you will know the power of my back side.”
Asia: This is the way! Outside. To p**p. 🤣
Francis, addressing the p**p: “I am your father.”

10/22/2025

Spooky season is here!
Meet Francis the Beelzeboob aka Count Dracul.
My personal, my very own, vampire. 🧛
🎨 by Yamako Iona K
🐶 Francis

09/24/2025

Mom says bail money is in the shoebox in her bedroom closet. 😉

09/23/2025

🦄 Maya [aug 21 2005ish + aug 27 2025]

“Everything is connected, like a delicate web. Ever growing, ever changing. New silvery strands come together every day, and once the strand is formed, no matter what superficial circumstances may sometimes keep you apart, it is never broken. You will meet again, perhaps in another lifetime. The connection is unbreakable, lying dormant in your subconscious.”
Chelsie Shakespeare

My sweet Maya,

Dogs are magic, pure and simple. But you always knew that, didn’t you? They seem as if they’ve been woven by Mother Nature herself out of threads of absolute goodness. There’s a reason that dogs are used to rehabilitate the hardest of criminals, and soothe the sickest in the hospital; they are ambassadors for their greatness.

You, along with other dogs, took away the meaning of temporary and threw the winds of eternity at me.

I absolutely loved finding your very own light within the delicate cracks of my soul. There is solace in knowing that every bridge within my brokenness was being restored by your tiny but unconditional heart.

You see, Maya, it’s somewhat taboo that a human would show such a display of grief for another species. To morn publicly without reservation and to take the time to self-sooth and to rest. To vulnerably face the realisation of the absence of a heart connection once felt.

So how do I, how do we (because I hope there are others, like myself) cope with the loss of a pet, a friend? The absence of the overexcited tail wagging and the grief that sometimes others don’t understand?

Grief for a pet is not a sign of weakness. It signifies the beauty of a heart that is capable of a love that not all human being are capable of – the animal human connection. The deep relationship that has been created with an animal. Some people pray. Some people meditate. Some people have a celebration of life. Some people get drunk. Some people get another pet right away, and some people don’t.

Because when it comes to grief, there are no rules. There is no walking away. It’s a roller coaster that we must ride. Such is the price we pay for the unconditional love of a friend like you. And in all of that, maybe others will have the same tiny epiphany - the greatest heroes of all, are the ones who come cloaked in the smallest of fuzzy packages. 🐾

Have you ever looked into someone's eyes and seen the entire universe smile back at you?

That's LOVE. ❤️

If you don't have a dog, at least one, there is not necessarily anything wrong with you, but there may be something wrong with your life.❤️

Fair winds and following seas, my sweet Maya. Your wings will forever flutter in my now paw shaped heart. 🐾

07/03/2025

Shout-out to all humans out there who love on us fuzzies. We were lucky to find the best one there is!

We woof you! ❤️
You are our MVP. Always.

06/20/2025

Five trips around the sun with Sir Francis!🌞

Happy Gotcha Day, stinker!!! ❤️

On May 28th back in 2020, a call for help was placed by local law enforcement to South Suburban Humane Society. A hoarding/puppy mill situation in Melrose Park, IL got a little out of hand and dogs varying in age were rescued. Everyone worked tirelessly for 24 hours to process all dogs- some went straight to foster homes (shout-out to all those amazing people who line up in times of need!!) and those with medical issues were kept with the humane society for a bit longer.

Mom donated to care for those dogs and filled out an adoption application right away. Boom! A few weeks later, she was invited to participate in a Zoom meeting. Dogs were being released in batches of about 10/13 dogs at a time. That Zoom call had over 200 participants!

On June 18th, 2020 she received the most wonderful email- one dog was ready to come home with her. Adoption documents were finalized and mom paid the adoption fee. She went to pick Francis up the following day- June 19th, 2020.

We all think it’s safe to say- things are going well ❤️

Ps. Don’t upset our mom by buying your fuzzy friends from a breeder- always adopt! ❤️

05/28/2025

Happy birthday to our human and Sir Francis. It will be cuddles xtreme tonight in our house and a huuuuuuuge love fest! ❤️ We woof you! 🐾

May 28th is the day Snoozer found mom at PAWS back in 2011 and opened the doors to all unwanted and discarded dogs (and cats, too!) into our family’s home and hearts. While Snoozer’s actual birthday remained unknown (he was found stuck under a dumpster), May 28th was a very special day while he was with us.

Aaaaaaand… really cool fact: Francis was one of the 43 dogs rescued from a puppy mill/hoarding case in Melrose Park, IL back in 2020. She never met him in person and finalized the adoption based on a very bad photo that she saw during a Zoom call with the rescue. Also- mom didn’t know Francis shared her birthday until she received proof of vaccines a week after adoption was finalized. This was meant to be. Don’t you think? 🦄

05/24/2025

To my brave and beautiful fuzzy soulmate,

You were a wild, tender mystery—a creature of lightning shakes and thunderous snores, of moonlight paws padding down the hallway just to check on me. You carried the heart of a wolf and the soul of a poet who only speaks in licks and sighs.

I saw you. I still see you!! The way you tilted your head at the wind, as if listening to some secret I could not hear. The way you pressed your weight against my legs when the world felt too heavy, like you were holding me together without a sound. You pretended not to notice when I cry, but you always brought me your favourite toy after, as if to say, "Here, this fixes things."

You did not have to be good. Though you were so, so, so, so good. You never had to earn your place. You carved it into the bedrock of my life the moment you chose me, and now I can’t remember what the silence felt like before you.

Be proud of your scars, your goofy underbite, the way you snored like a chainsaw but woke up delicately, as if afraid to break the morning. Be so fu***ng proud of the way you loved me - without maps, without conditions, as if devotion is as simple as breathing.

The world moves too fast for creatures like you. They don’t see the way you memorized the exact sound of my keys in the door, or how you sighed when dreams took you somewhere far away. But I did. I saw it all!

Five years ago time stole the weight of your head from my lap, the warmth of your paw on my knee. But Snoozer, I need you to listen closely, my wild-hearted friend: You were never just a chapter in my life. You are the ink!

And long after the last page was written, I still listen for you — in the creak of the floorboards, in the rustle of leaves, in every quiet place where love outlives bones.

If I could have just one more day with you, I wouldn’t say a word. I would just listen to the sound of your paws padding softly across the floor, your gentle breaths, your quiet whimpers—memorizing each one until they became the only song my heart could ever sing.

I would watch you. I would trace the curve of your ears, the way your nose twitched when you slept, the way your eyes lit up when you saw me—until every detail was etched into my mind, so I could see you perfectly, even in the dark.

I would run my fingers through your fur, over and over, feeling the warmth of your body, the rhythm of your heartbeat, until the memory of your touch became a comfort I could cling to when the silence felt too heavy.

I would breathe you in— the scent of sun-warmed fur, of grass and home—until it lingered in the air long after you were gone, a ghost of you I could still reach for.

But more than anything, if I had one more day with you, I would hold you. I would hold you so close, so tight, hoping that if I just held on a little longer...
You wouldn’t have to go.

Yes, if I had just one more day with you, I would beg. I would beg so hard.

That the world would be kind enough to let you stay.

Snoozer

11/26/2025

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11/19/2025

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