A life update with travel, anniversaries, and major grief.

Hi friends, it’s been a while. A long while, but I’ve been longing to come back to this corner of the internet. But I’ve been waiting for “the right time”. 

In waiting for the magical and elusive time to arrive, I’ve missed out on so many ideas that have been floating around in my head. Series I’ve wanted to start, musings I’ve wanted to share, and now — I’m struck with heartbreak. 

In my friend, mentor, and spiritual teacher passing unexpectedly, I feel a new sense of urgency to get my work out into the world. He loved my work, and we genuinely enjoyed brainstorming ways to make pet grief the main conversation at the table. 

That was at the beginning of June, which feels like both yesterday and a hundred years away.

A coloring table at my friends grief gathering. A place for us to gather and naturally talk about our feelings without any judgement or direct attention. It was natural and comforting. I sat here the whole night and cried with friends while we colored. 

He reminded me that my work was important, that I was important. 

I need to prove him right, that believing in me was a good choice. That my work centers on pet grief, spirituality, and community care. I need to be bold and scream it into the universe. 

I’m here, and this work is important. It’s changing lives. I’m not saving anyone from themselves or their grief — I’m empowering them to grieve the way they need to, and not feel any way about it. 

Dismantling shame, guilt, and perception from grief is what my work does.

Before this major loss, Armin’s first anniversary has been looming over me. As I type this initial draft, it’s the night before, and I have mixed feelings about it. 

Armin’s death feels so far away, but also feels like yesterday. I don’t recognize that girl who was sobbing on the floor, unable to make the other animals in her house breakfast because the pain was too much. The sleepless nights and the near-constant pain of heartbreak deep-seated in my chest.

Armin in our patio in Florida, where he loved to watch the birds.

I still cry over him, hard. Sometimes I still forget that I don’t need to bring him to bed. I’ve even browsed over the cat food cans at the pet store thinking of one he’d like. It’s still a shock to my system when my brain lags.

It’s a weird procrastination knowing this date has been coming up. I keep trying to avoid it, but that’s not how time works.

Armin’s departure has been flaring my OCD about our two household dogs. I worry about Luca again, our now “senior” 6-year-old golden retriever, and whether he heals from his bilateral CCL tears. How will his life look in the coming years? How can I support him through his injury? What treatments are beneficial for his quality of life? 

I know I can’t think like that, and I trust my ability to make the best decision I can with the information in front of me. He’s going back to hydrotherapy now that his insurance has renewed. We’ve been doing physical therapy at home. He’s even been getting Adequan injections; it’s a disease-modifying osteoarthritis drug (DMOAD) for dogs that proactively treats his cartilage degeneration and injury rather than just its symptoms. It mimics natural cartilage building blocks, improves joint fluid viscosity, and blocks enzymes that destroy cartilage. It’s been a wild ride with our dogs, featuring Luca’s MCT (mast cell tumor) diagnosis last November to changing his entire lifestyle — I’d do anything to make him happy, though.

Luca and I on a walk to help him regain muscle in his legs, a big part of physical therapy for him!

In March, I also lost my paternal grandfather (a lot of loss this year, right?) Did I even share about that? I feel like I’m honestly still processing it. It’s been a heavy year…

In 365 days, I’ve lost 4 humans and 3 animals that hold a special place in my heart. Some of those people I didn’t even get to say goodbye to. That’s wild to think about. A part of me can’t believe that it’s a part of my story. But, alas, no one ever really expects grief to be such a presence in their lives until it just is. 

In terms of travel, now that we’ve caught up on the heaviness of life, it’s been a beautiful summer (besides the, you know, death). I’ve been reflecting on our first trip of the season at the beginning of summer lately.

Earlier in the summer we camped for the first time at Elkmont, a park in The Greak Smokies. We went to see the fireflies (blue ghost and synchronous), but alas, we arrived too late in the season. 

The lack of lightning bugs or torrential downpour didn’t stop our fun, and we managed to squeeze every ounce of freedom from that trip. Though only a long weekend, it was what we needed to decompress. 

Presently, I’m focused on taking it one day at a time. I’ve had a few posts go viral (wow, talk about a visibility exercise), and I’m working on getting to bed earlier so I can prioritize rest.

In terms of the future, I’m currently in the process of launching my podcast, which is a dream come true. I want to write a whole article on that process and my inspiration behind it. I’ll add that to the docket.

I’ll give Substack subscribers early access before it properly launches on August 17th. Let me know what you think and give it a listen! 

Lastly, in a mixture of past and present — is recording the seminar I led during The Smoky Mountain Yoga and Wellness Festival 2026. I was honored to host a class called Hold The Heart: Herbals for Healing Grief with Community. I’m working on filming that and getting everything ready so anyone can download it when they need it most. 

I’ve already had folks around town find me after the seminar, and updated me on the best news — that the protocols I mentioned are working well for them. What a freakin’ compliment.