09/01/2025
I am here, my love, with both hands around your paw, counting the breaths that once pulled me through bad nights and long days. I remember muddy doorways, soft thumps on the floor, the way you learned my steps and waited at the turn of the key. You taught me a simple faith. Show up. Stay close. Listen. You never asked for the right words. You only asked for my hand, and I always found it because you were already halfway reaching back.
If love could bargain with time I would pay in every morning we ever had and every walk we never took. But love does something braver. It loosens its grip so you can rest. So I will sit here until your shoulders go light and the ache in your eyes turns to quiet. I will tell you the stories you liked. I will thank you for guarding the parts of me I could not guard alone. When the room goes still, I will carry your warmth forward in the leash by the door, in the bowl that catches sunlight, in the space beside me that taught me what a home is. Run easy now. I will meet you on the path you always found first. Until then, take my love with you. It knows the way.
