Took my dog to the vet today, for the third time in four weeks. (This is Zelda, the angel dog, not Bartleby, the stray from July.)

She got the most traumatizing compliment ever. The vet said, “Even for her breed, this is a tough little dog.” The tech murmured something and the vet added, “This must be agonizing.”

Agonizing.

The word “agonizing” was used in relation to my angel.

I want to burrow under the covers with her for the next decade. Wake us up when they’ve figured out how to heal everything and give dogs eternal life, k?

And if I owe you an email (I know I owe several), tomorrow will, I hope, be the day.

(Chronic ear infection & a pus-filled ear, not–fingers crossed–anything life-threatening. Just, you know, agonizing. But she didn’t even whimper, just stared into my eyes and shook.)