Sometimes I think that maybe I am too attached to my dog…

1. When my children ask who my favorite is and I say the dog, sometimes I actually mean it.
2. I get excited to see his little face when I pull into the driveway.
3. I speak complete baby-talk to him.
4. He sleeps with me and I am totally happy with that.
5. I make sure to give him part of our dinner every night.
6. I get very upset when he is scared of thunder, loud noises, or the million things he is afraid of.
7. I have conversations with him. Sometimes this happens when we are out walking. I’m sure my neighbors think I’m nuts.
8. I cannot get mad at him. Ever.
9. I have actually delayed leaving my house when it is raining because I know he is scared.
10. I am happy that he and my boyfriend like each other because if they didn’t, he might not be my boyfriend.
11. I refer to him as mine not ours. My daughters don’t really like this.
12. I think he looks adorable when he is dirty.
13. When I leave him with someone, I worry just like I did when I dropped my daughters at preschool.
14. I will only leave him with family or friends. I cannot leave him in a place with a lot of other dogs because I think the dogs may be mean to him.
15. I truly think he is the cutest dog in the world.
16. I give him full credit for bringing joy into our house.
17. My youngest daughter gets upset because I refer to him as my baby.
18. I have tried every dog food there is and he doesn’t like any of them. This is probably because I always give him people food.
19. I take him in the car with me whenever I can because I know how much he loves it.
20. I worry about moving out of my house one day because I am afraid it will traumatize him.
21. I get horribly upset when I see that very long commercial about abused dogs. I need to turn off the TV and give him a hug.
22. Whenever I hear about a lost dog I get a pit in my stomach. My heart goes out to the owners and I pray it is not us one day.
23. He completely bosses me around.
24. We occassionally talk about getting another dog but probably never will because he would be too jealous.
25. I cannot imagine our world without him.

Stacy Feintuch

Stacy was a stay-at-home mom/part-time preschool teacher whose life was turned upside down in 2011 when her husband passed away suddenly of a heart attack.  She is raising her two fabulous daughters, now ages 18 and 20, who are turning into wonderful young women.  In 2016, she started a blog about her experience as a young widow, The Widow Wears Pink. This led her to write for other publications including Huffington Post, Today.com, Scary Mommy, Grown & Flown, Kveller, Modern Loss, Thought Catalog, and many more. In 2018 she started Living the Second Act with fellow writer Mimi Golub. Today, Stacy and her daughters  are happily living their “new normal” while always keeping her husband’s spirit alive.