My toy friend Edge

One of the most devastating parts of sorrow is how it can hit out of nowhere. There you work completely normal, everyday, and then that perfectly normal, it reminds you of something or someone who is gone. And when it’s the presence you’ve lost was intimately connected to your life, well, these moments happen often and unexpected.

I had recently forgiven for an old friend named Millie, 18-year-old Shih Tzu, who was a constant and stable companion for almost entirely my adult life. In an attempt to take off with sadness I decided to get a little tired of the familiar The passage of animalsA quiet place full of simple jobs that usually helps to accidate my head. But while I was sitting on the couch, I watch the shadows of fish around virtual waters, something was missing: warm presence is in my lap I took for for the last two decades.

My toy habits are primarily lonely. When I actually actually play, I usually try to get lost for a few hours in the great world, something like Zelda, Quakeor Megs. It usually happens in a quiet evening when everyone else sleeps and I am far removed from screaming Mario Map Fight or Chat Fortnite The lobby. But as I realized during that The passage of animals Session, I almost never was indeed Sam playing these games.

Maybe she had a wonderful little face, but Millie didn’t like most people. She wore like a bulldog, the breasts intimidated to intimidate, and it was awful even from a young time. The sound of children would laugh, it was grumbled and hated when any unknown person entered our house, which was always a party when they had to do repairs. Few people had to see the dog I did, a fierce protective titza who knew who loved and worried about a little. No matter what I did that she never seemed to be far away, which she obviously involved a lot of play.

The day we lost Millie, my wife and I spent a lot of our time digging through old photos and videos reminded. As I returned to my first Instagram message, he really hit the home that this dog was there at the base of every big moment in our life; Every move and heart, Christmas morning and early childhood of both our daughters. We always remembered it was cold with the children when they were small – it was no longer in the center, but there we found videos and images of her eating from their hands or slept on their beds. She was always just there, a quiet source of comfort for the whole family.

It was a topic with most photos Millie and me: She was just cold in my lap while reading or playing the game. Scrolling through those photos I saw the same scenery by playing through more console generations: young and accommodation of billions next to a silver PS2 controller, a slightly older and scrape version of the face hidden behind the Xbox one gamepad. There were photos of her bearing on my chest while I played New Horizons During the early days of sepriest pandemic. The one that hit me the most difficult is my oldest daughter that bed on our couch Nintendo DS is probably lost in PokemonWhile Millie happened next to her.

Here’s the creature I’ve ever loved unconditionally, who was always quiet there when I needed and later when my kids needed my children. Generations of the console may seem a stupid way to measure time, but I can be effective. The technology is changing so quickly that it can become a light visual abbreviation for recognizing a certain moment or era. Millie was sitting next to me through four of these generations – I even found my photo next to the PS5 Unit I showed how big the console was – and so it became an indelible part of how I experienced these games.

At first I thought that this relationship would make the hobby that became important to me, turning something that was a long time ago, and escape to one patient with bitter memories. But while I threw my line in The passage of animals The water, I realized that they did not haunt Milliev’s presence, but reminded of it. Her warmth and presence can no longer be physically, but it doesn’t make less comfort.