When we got Bella in 2014, I remember thinking of how, after losing Angel the year before, we would have 15 years or more the Bella. A year ago we came home to an empty house. Traci quietly packed away the feeder and watering station while I sat lost and empty on the couch. Time has played its tricks, sometimes convincing me that pain of her loss has faded over the past twelve months, but while it has lost some of its potency, the ache, the underlying sadness is still there. We will always miss you, Bella. We will always love you.

Classes began in a staggered way this term. I have six, down from the exhausting schedule I had last fall but more than enough to keep me busy this term, and until today, enough to blunt the stream of melancholy anniversaries as we approach the end of our first full year without Bella. The sadness seemed to finally be dissipating, and though I hate the term, I finally though that I was letting go. We made the difficult decision to euthanize Bella at the end of February after the palliative effects of the NSAID therapy diminished. When her lymph node burst a few days later, we knew she wouldn’t make…