The one year anniversary of Murdock’s departure proved to be more difficult than I could have imagined. For many reasons,

One year. One year since Murdock looked at me with those velvety, floppy ears and big brown eyes and I

I had always learned that shock was one of the “stages” of grief. (I don’t give much credence to grief

I learned more walking through 15 years of life with Murdock than I did in all of the 30 years

I experienced grief before I lost Murdock. I have lost loved ones, been divorced, lost jobs and friends. I thought