No. 15: Honoring the Companions Who Got Us Through

The Ones Who Stayed Close

Not every season is carried by big victories or grand support.

Some seasons are survived because someone quiet stayed near.

A presence.

A heartbeat.

A steady, wordless kind of love.

For me, that presence often looks like four soft paws

and a warm body curled against the curve of my leg

on nights when the world felt too loud.

The Comfort of Being Seen

There is a kind of companionship

that doesn’t need language.

No advice.

No fixing.

No asking you to be stronger than you are.

Just silent recognition

from a creature who loves you

exactly as you are in that moment—

weary, uncertain, unraveling a little at the edges.

Sometimes that is enough.

Sometimes that is everything.

The Presence That Heals

My dog has seen versions of me

I didn’t show the world—

the tears quietly wiped away in the corner of the couch,

the deep breaths held too long,

the exhaustion I didn’t have words for.

She didn’t demand anything.

She didn’t question.

She simply stayed.

A warm reminder

that love can be simple

and still profound.

The Small Things That Hold Us

Support doesn’t always look like

long conversations or dramatic moments of help.

Sometimes it looks like:

A friend texting, “I’m thinking of you.”

A dog resting her head on your knee.

A hug that lasts one second longer than necessary.

Someone noticing you’re tired

even when you didn’t say so.

We underestimate how much those small gestures

keep us going.

We forget to honor them.

A Quiet Thank You

So this is a thank you

to the companions who carried me

without ever asking to be thanked.

To the ones who sat beside me

when I couldn’t speak the weight I was holding.

To the softness that showed up

in the middle of hard days.

To the friendships that didn’t need explanations

to understand something had shifted.

You helped me through.

You helped me stay.

A Reminder for You

Think of the presence

that stood with you in your difficult season—

maybe a pet,

maybe a friend,

maybe someone who barely knew the role they played.

Let yourself feel grateful for them

in the smallest, quietest way.

Because not all love arrives with fanfare.

Some love simply stays.

And staying

is its own form of grace.

—Steph