I've only just discovered your articles, and I'm hooked. Each one more impactful and heartfelt than the last.

I am usually not focused much on myself, but this comment may sound like I am.

I've been battling heart failure and cancer for quite a while. (I'm supposed to be dead already.) It's really just a question of which one will take me first. But I'm 75, so my passing will not be any great tragedy or shock, and I would never put it on the same level as the passing of your Ana. But being on the doorstep does make you think and feel about some things.

Death does not scare me because I know it is not the end. The thought of the continuing and growing pain does scare me. A greater fear for me, though. is the loneliness that comes from being in a place that no one else can understand, except those who are experiencing the same thing.

But the one entity who picked up on that in me is my dog. He is a lot like you describe Roo. Tristan never allows me to be alone. In fact, the only thing annoying about him is that he is never more than a few feet from me. But he is always there, and he's there with everything he's got. He makes it impossible to be depressed or to linger on the "unfairness" of life. It is clear to me that God put dogs on this planet to caretake our hearts.

Tristan and I send our love and gratitude to you and Roo.