I found myself  having an even harder time with August's calendar.  The loss of  my lovely dog Zach had shredded my heart.  He was our eleventh dog loss in our 41 years of marriage.  Over 41 years doesn't sound too bad but that averages out to a dog every 3.7 years.  My heart never has time to heal. That's the price we pay of loving our pets.   Leo keeps me going.  He knows Zach is gone and mopes but still wants to play. Dogs move forward and we should follow their lead on this matter.