No. 2: She Stayed With Me

A Tribute to My Dog, My True Companion

Before my marriage, before my son, before the hard conversations and the emotional unraveling—there was her. My dog. My shadow. My soft landing place when the world felt too sharp.

She came into my life when I didn’t know how much I needed to be chosen. Not in the grand, cinematic sense, but in the quiet, enduring way that dogs do. No performance. No conditions. Just presence. She stayed with me through every version of myself—especially the ones I didn’t yet know how to love.

Through Every Transition

She watched me try to become an adult.Watched me fall in and out of alignment.Watched me contort to fit roles and relationships.And she stayed.

She curled next to me during panic attacks I didn’t know how to name. She watched, head tilted, as I tiptoed around tension in the home. She sat with me during early mornings when the house was still, and I could finally exhale. She knew, somehow, when I needed her warmth pressed against my side—and when I just needed to be.

When I became a mother, she became something even more sacred:a steady anchor in the chaos of new life.She gave space. She showed patience.She became my son’s first glimpse of loyalty and gentle love.

A Witness to My Becoming

She’s the only one who has seen it all—my before, during, and becoming. The shifts no one else noticed. The quiet heartbreaks. The small triumphs. The days I carried more than I could explain. She didn’t need an explanation. She just stayed.

And that is what undid me, in the best way.Not the grand acts. But the quiet loyalty.The way she never left—physically or emotionally.

When people speak of soulmates, I think of her.

The Grief of a Bond So Deep

Now, the edges of time feel sharper. She’s older. Slower.There’s a soft urgency I carry in my chest—one that whispers:Don’t take this for granted.Because one day, she won’t be here to stay.

But for now, she still is.And I don’t want to miss a single sacred moment.

This post is a tribute, yes—but also a promise.To keep honoring her companionship.To let her know, in all the ways I can,that she saved me too.

She stayed when I didn’t know how to stay with myself.She loved me when I wasn’t sure I deserved it.She reminded me that softness is strength.

And when I look into her eyes, now a little (cloudier) wiser with age, I hope she knows:I see her. I treasure her. I won’t forget a thing.

She stayed with me.And I will carry that love for the rest of my life.

—

For her. Always.

—Steph