Grief often begins long before the goodbye.

When Ollie’s health began to decline, I started his Bucket List. It wasn’t about grand adventures, but about saying yes to joy—yes to cheesesteaks in Philadelphia, yes to paw prints pressed into glass, yes to donuts and sunny spots on the floor.

What makes this loss feel different from losing Charlie is what I have discovered since then: animal communication. With Charlie, I believed our relationship ended with his last breath. With Ollie, I know now the connection continues. It shifts. It becomes quieter, but no less real.