Harley

2012 - 2025

Not many people are blessed with their soul dog as early in life as I was. I got Harley a week before I turned 20 — barely out of my teens but before any “real life” experience.
We found an ad on Craigslist on Sunday morning, August 5, 2012. We decided we were going to get a dog. We picked him up from a Toys-R-Us parking lot in Nashua, NH — straight from the back of a limousine masquerading as a dog rescue. I said “I just want a boy, I don’t care about anything else.” They handed him to me, he licked my face — and it was over — I was his and he was mine. The best friendships happen unexpectedly.

He’s been by my side for it all: engagement, marriage, my pregnancies and births, the devastating losses life brings, and more household moves than I care to count. Every new chapter in our story, he handled with a grace I’m not sure I was deserving of.
He was there for the first steps for each of the kids — keeping a protective eye and providing a reassuring presence as they wobbled around with uncertainty. He placed himself between highchairs catching toddler tossed bite-sized foods for years (even eating foods he didn’t particularly care for). He sat beside me in the front seat of countless cars — eyes closed with wind blowing those soft, floppy ears back any chance he could.

He’s been there for the happiest of days and for the days when it felt impossible to go on.

Through all the ebbs and flows of life — the constant was always my pooh bear. We truly grew up together. He slept beside me every single night for the past 13 years and tonight our house feels a whole lot emptier. All the monumental events of my life, he’s intricately woven into…and for that, I’m forever thankful.

Thank you, Harley, for the gift of loyal companionship and the privilege of loving you for your entire life.
Our last gift to you was a helping hand across the Rainbow Bridge — in hopes that pizza crust and BarkBox crinkle toys will be plentiful, and pain will never meet you again.
I hope you knew you always brought the greatest joy, and your loss brings us sorrow that could never properly be expressed. We will miss you so much, Har.
June 3, 2012 - September 19, 2025