The missing

Oliver will have been gone a year as of Aug. 14. A year. It doesn't feel right without him, and it never did. I love my dogs dearly and there is no competition there -- the relationship is completely different. Oliver was a bit of a contemporary, really, a fixture in our home and on our couch. He was even a point in our arguments -- whoever's lap he chose was right. And he always chose Adam's.

His death put a punctuation point on a year that was ridiculously difficult. I feel that we've been emerging from that time, but I know that Aug. 14 will be a hard day and I want to do something to honor his memory. I'm not sure what that is yet, but whatever it is, we will be thinking of my big orange boy.