What I Realized When My Sister’s Dog Died that Shook Me to My Core
How can we ever forget? And yet we do, each and every time
I’m a cat person. Let me start this story with the admission that Thor’s death would not affect me as much as it did my sister. Dogs actually scare me, and I’m uncomfortable around them.
And yet, I’m certainly able to see how my sister was comforted and loved by her dog, and I am very grateful that he was part of our family.
Here’s the thing
When Thor died, my sister was thrown into that crazy, shaky, uncertain space we all enter when someone we love is gone forever. And this is what I couldn’t help but notice, that she was immediately taken back to every other major loss she had ever experienced.
It was like she had access to a time machine. Outside of her gaped a huge hole, one which had taken our mom, her father, her two best friends, her boss, her marriage, and all the animals she had ever loved. You’d have to be blind not to see it.
And it got me thinking, why do we ever let go of the realization of loss? When it’s such a fundamental human experience, perhaps the most defining one after love itself, why does our gaze ever lower from it?
