… or, in this case, your Bella.
I was thinking recently about all of the things – both little and not-so-little – that have changed around here since we lost Bella in May. Sometimes it seems like I’m surrounded by a thousand tiny reminders on any given day.
Loosely inspired by this song, here are twenty (out of countless) ways I miss my Bella:
- Every morning, I wake up to the sight of an empty dog bed. I can’t quite bring myself to move it.
- I haven’t moved her food dish either.
- My morning routine has changed. I’d gotten used to spending at least thirty minutes cajoling Bella into eating her breakfast.
- There’s no one in the blanket cave that Bella liked to hide in.
- In fact, I washed the blanket in question and put it in the linen closet.
- The nights are different too. It’s quiet without her nightly cave to bed migration.
- I miss her snoring. It was loud, yet so comforting.
- It’s weird to walk by the front door and not see her watching the world go by.
- Tavish has been spending less time staring through those windows as well.
- Every time I vacuum, I feel a little sad. With each pass, I’m removing more Bella hair that will never be replenished.
- For that reason, I didn’t even try to vacuum for the first month.
- When I finally did vacuum, I couldn’t stop thinking about the time(s) Bella left a toy in front of the vacuum as her own form of protest. We (perhaps inappropriately) called it her Tiananmen Square move.
- My stairs are curiously clear of furry obstacles.
- I miss helping Bella go up and down the stairs.
- My kitchen seems empty too. I keep avoiding Bellas that are no longer camped out waiting for food to fall from the sky.
- I’m falling out of practice with regard to all of those hand signals.
- Tavish seems to spend a lot more time licking the humans in the house.
- Sometimes I wonder if that’s because his usual kissing target isn’t available now.
- Working in the yard is weird too. She always loved to supervise (aka nap in the flower beds) while we puttered around.
- I really, really, really miss my Bella hugs.