Today would have been Abby‘s 7th adopted birthday with the Nosy Parker family. I miss her acutely today. It’s raw, like it was right after we lost her.

She died in October from brain cancer. We were devastated. Abby was my everything, and I credit her with my survival as a solo caregiver. Abby made every single day better. (It was tempting to name Abby my #OneGoodThing every day; she certainly qualified, but my goal was variety.)

When I began my #OneGoodThing project, I also began posting a daily photo of Abby on Instagram (she’s @AbbyTheBoston). I didn’t want to flood my Facebook feed with dog photos, but I needed an outlet. This 9-photo collage is made up of Abby’s most popular photos from Instagram this year — funny enough, one photo is from the rescue before I adopted her, and one photo is Abby’s successor/soul sister Paisley. I’m grateful to have such a lovely compilation of Abby photos to enjoy.

This is my favorite photo of Abby

Processing our grief has included drawing, painting, sculpting (from clay), reading books, making calendars, enjoying other’s dogs and more. Today made me realize how far I’ve come. I realize grief isn’t linear, but the resurgence of feelings reminded me how well I’ve been coping. Special thanks to Paisley who’s helped us heal greatly!

Today’s #OneGoodThing is remembering my sweet girl, my love dog.

Day 3 of 365.

1 year ago today: Satisfaction of Organizing (check out our awesome reading nook, which a year later needs to be rescued from junk once again)

What was your #OneGoodThing today? Please share in the comments! And if you like the idea of #OneGoodThing, please share my blog with your friends!