Tomorrow will mark six months since Lance’s passing. Do you know how many people in my life haven’t said a word to me about his death? Or they may have said “sorry about your loss” on the Facebook post I made when Lance passed away and nothing since. Even one of my closest friends didn’t reach out to me for months after Lance’s passing. To say I was hurt about that one is an understatement, but it leads me to my second lesson:

I often tell people Lance lived his life with a sense of gratitude. Despite his abusive past, Lance was a big cuddle bug who wanted nothing more than to be with his people and get lots of love and food. I always felt like Lance was thankful for everything he got in life. I think he remembered what kind of life he had before he was rescued and knew he hit the doggy jackpot when he landed in a home where two people wanted to spoil him every day of his life. It’s been three months since Lance passed and I miss him like crazy, but I like to think about what he taught me about life.

Five months. Five months since I said good-bye to Lance. Five months since I held his paw in my hand. Five months since I kissed the back of his head as I was rubbing his back. Oh how he loved having his back rubbed. Five months since he tried stealing the bed from me. Five months since I gave my best friend hugs and kisses. I have good days and other days, I want nothing more than to sleep the pain away. But over the last few months, the loss I’ve been going through has been teaching me some lessons.