River

It’s Only a Dog (Until It Isn’t)

Someone said to me today, “it’s only a dog,” and I felt something in me quietly tighten. Not anger exactly, more a pause. A recognition that we were looking at the same thing, but not seeing the same meaning at all.

Because when I think about River, I don’t think “only” anything.

I think companionship. I think presence. I think the steady, uncomplicated kind of love that...