Deep doo doo. That’s what I’m in. Adopting another beloved pet was adamantly not part of my plan. After Izzy’s death, following my dream of travel was my only plan. But you know what they say about plans. God laughs when we make them. When Izzy was diagnosed with a fatal heart condition, I wrote an essay called “Loving Wide Open at the End of an Era (read it here: https://angisullins.wordpress.com/about/). It describes my decision to live without pets once Izzy passed, as a commitment to following my mad passionate dream of world travel. I always wanted to backpack across […]

      Izzy dies. We go to the beach. We’re trying to clear our heads, mend our breaking hearts. It’s hard to talk about her without crying. So we talk about our work. Family stuff. Travel. We wander the shore. Everything’s a little more dull without Izzy in the world. True, the ocean is soothing. The sky. The surf. The palm trees. It’s all so beautiful, yet vague. As if viewed from a long way off, even though we’re right there, walking amidst it all. I really don’t know what’s going to pull us out of this emotional riptide. […]

“All of life is saying goodbye.” I’m musing on that quote, and Izzy’s nebulous prognosis, as we climb into the car. We’re headed to the park for our ritual morning walk, and the sky is big and cloudless, mocking my shadowed thoughts. Its true blue light fills the heart with enough helium to make it burst from happiness. Izzy’s nose and paws are out the car window, sniffing up the sunshine and sage. It’s that simple for her. Look at this. Smell that. Sit on the lap and enjoy the ride. The feel of her snuggled between me and the […]