Love and Loss

Rest in Peace Maddox LoPriore 

Today marks the third anniversary of Adler's death. Three years went by in what seemed like the blink of an eye. My kids are three years older and I now have a 2.5 year old new dog. As I reflect back on that time after losing her, my grief was so real and so raw. It felt suffocating at times like I wasn't ever going to be able to remember her without crying. Yes, I know she was a dog but she wasn't just a dog. She was a member of my family.

Time did heal and getting Sadie certainly helped too. But, it really took me almost three months to feel like I could breathe without her. To this day, I still think of her almost daily and miss her. And, yes, she was "just" a dog. I can't even imagine if it was one of my own "human" children.

Unfortunately, one of my very best friends lost her 8.5 year old child unexpectedly last week. Thinking about the pain I felt for Adler who was a dog and an old dog at that can't even come close to what she is feeling and going through. I know her son, Maddox, will be close in her thoughts every day for the rest of her life. She will miss him every day for the rest of her life. She will never be the same again for the rest of her life. This will change her. This will change her family of six - now her family of five. This will change us. Her friends. We've never had a best friend who has lost a child before. How do we take away her pain? How do we support her? How do we help her grieve? How do we not forget her child and keep his memory alive not just next week or next year but when 5 years or 10 or 20 years have passed?

These are all questions we're going to do our best to find the answers to so we can be the best support system we can for her. Because there's few people in your life who mean as much to you as your family and she's one of them.