Living a chapter of our life with a being that is our safe space, our best friend, our judgement free confidant will always end the same for the vast majority of us dog lovers.
They teach us how to feel deeply and without hesitation. The way we attune to our dogs and their needs is something that should be studied. The soul level understanding between two completely different species shows us how simple real companionship can be.
We love them so fiercely we want to scrunch their face off. We become home for each other. We do everything we can to make their days the best ones because that's what they do for us. And they don't even know it.
But. With great love, comes great loss.
The painful trade off.
Inviting a dog into our lives is a calculated risk. The reward isn't what's waiting at the end. It's everything before it.
We know we will have to traverse the darkest of days when our chapter closes.
While a large portion of our work is made for those who have their dog by their side, a lot of our pieces are crafted after the physical journey between a dog and their person has come to an end. The following days, months and years can make you feel lost, lonely, heart broken. Perhaps a bittersweet feeling shows up and you feel sad AND relieved if they were unwell and it was time. Perhaps you feel angry because it was too soon, the world doesn't make sense and the cruelty of life is unfair.
Emotions or feelings that show up when grief takes the wheel can't be categorised as right or wrong. Grief doesn't neatly start and finish. There are no neat edges to it. You can't contain it and put it aside. It changes you and you coexist with it.
We have loved hard and lost too. We have lived life with the pets that helped make us better people and felt all the things when they left us. Consider it a part of our skill set that better equips us to carry people through both the light and the dark.
Jewellery can represent the very nuanced chapter of life that you are lucky enough to have shared with a creature who only knows how to love.
We create to celebrate the dog who deserves to be enshrined. Whether that be while they're still walking along side you or when they're forever resting comfortably in your heart.
We get you and we've got you.
This was inspired by my Brother, Rhett and his dearly departed Mo.
May she always be living her best leggy life wherever she may be.