09/17/2026
I’ve never felt something so deeply.
Maybe that’s what so many of us are really looking for when we love animals this much.
Somewhere for all the tenderness we carry.
Somewhere to be soft without being made to feel stupid for it.
Somewhere to give without wondering if it will be used against us.
Somewhere that doesn’t make us feel like we’re too much.
Animals never made me feel like my love was too much.
They just let me love them.
And maybe there’s something both beautiful and terrifying about that.
Because when you love an animal this deeply, you know from the beginning that you’re eventually going to have to lose them.
You know the years will pass.
You know they’ll get old.
You know one day you’ll have to leave them, or they’ll leave you.
And somehow, knowing that doesn’t make you love them any less.
If anything, it makes you love them harder.
Because they become more than something you love.
They become somewhere safe to put the parts of yourself you’re scared to give to anyone else.
The softness.
The loyalty.
The ridiculous amount of love.
The part of you that just wants to care for something and be cared for in return.
And maybe that’s why losing them, leaving them, or even just being away from them can hurt in a way that’s almost impossible to explain.
Because you’re not just missing an animal.
You’re missing the place where you felt safe enough to love without protecting yourself.
They weren’t just animals. They were a part of your soul.
They were somewhere safe to put all that love.
And I think some of us spend our whole lives looking for that.
