Loss- “the fact or process of losing something or someone”. For me it was a lot more than that. When I was a four year old boy I lost my first dog Alex. My family had got that dog before I was born, I had seen that dog from the day I got home from the hospital until I was that four year old boy. When I was four I had no clue what death was, and I knew even less about how to get through it.  When Alex died all I could figure out was that he was gone. I had never lost family or pets until I lost Alex.

I think the hardest thing for my four year old self to wrap my head around was the fact that my dog was gon. He wasn’t coming back, and there's nothing I could do about it. I relied on my dogs for emotional support often. Like one time I was having a particularly “bad” day at preschool and the only thing that was gonna make it better was to come home and see my dog Alex. He wasn’t there. And he would never be there, and I had to face that fact. It was a very sad couple of months following his death. We got a new dog a couple of weeks after his death. I guess that did kind of help. At first I thought it was a awful idea but it turned out fine.

       The death of my dog was probably the hardest thing for me to deal with. The reason I wrote this whole story ( which I hope you will take the time to finish reading) is because I hope if you or your kid or someone you know is having trouble with the death of a pet, loved one, or family I hope you know it's gonna be okay and some day you will be able to get through it. It was a very rough couple of months following the death of Alex but I got threw it ok and so can YOU.