06/05/2025
On this day in 2013, I said goodbye to Oliver. He was five years old, and I didn’t realize just how deeply he’d embedded himself in my heart until he was gone. This photo was taken just two weeks before he started showing signs of illness. He passed from a brain tumor no symptoms one moment, paralyzed the next, and gone within three weeks.
I wasn’t ready. It was one of the hardest losses I’ve faced, second only to losing my grandfather. Without even knowing it, Oliver helped me reconnect with parts of myself I’d long buried. I used to see crying as weakness, but he taught me that vulnerability is strength.
I’ll always be grateful for the five years we shared. He was my son before I had a son and a big part of why I became a dog walker. I carry him with me, every day. Luis
