My dog died this week

I've had my German Shepherd, Max, since I was nine. I'm twenty now and he's gone...his back legs went out and he was in a lot of pain so we put him to sleep. It seems like such an average thing, so small to some people and yet for me, someone who has never experienced anything dying, anything I really knew anyway, it's surreal. I can't seem to wrap my head around him being gone...just gone. He was such a constant in my life for so long that I feel like something's off about my home now, I feel like any second he'll come galloping around the corner out of our hallway and I'll give him a biscuit and pet him on the head. His death marked more for me than the death of an animal that was more than a pet, but a member of my family and one of the most loving things I've ever known. It marked the end of my childhood. I know I should have seen that as over a long time ago, but somehow it didn't seem like it until now, for the first time I've come to the realization that nothing will ever be the same and from this point forward, loss will come more an more frequently. Loss of each and every thing that once meant comfort and security and innocence, all the things that make being a child such a precious thing. I'm an adult now...and i'm going to have to learn to be stronger. The loss of Max shook me to the core, so what about when it's a person? Will I shut down? Will I give up? I'd like to think not, but i don't know. I feel like I am grieving two separate entities this week, and one of them is me.





[RIP Max. We'll never forget you, and we'll always love you.]