Can you imagine loving someone for decades, believing that your future with this person was a certainty, and that your joy was shared - only to have that entire perspective declared null and void?

To have that person walk away from the shared time, seemingly with little regret or indecision, brings with it such a variety of emotions.

Betrayal, for sure, but also gratitude and nostaglia for those joyful times.

She’s 16!

When people hear “divorce,” they think of two people splitting up. Maybe lawyers, maybe a fight over the house. What they don’t picture is a five-phase operation spanning two legal systems, two tax codes, two languages, and an ocean.

It is amazing.

I never thought I would be here, both in the sense that I never thought I would face separation and its presumed grief – but now, having reached it, I never thought I would realize that beyond grief was something so much greater.

I have come to realize that in the battle of unrequited love, the indefatigable shield of disinterest cannot be overcome, and yet my weapons of affection, compassion, and sacrifice continue to fire, never ceasing.

I’m starting out 2026 in a very different place than I was in 2025.

After 23 years of prioritizing someone else, it is time to redefine myself.

Timing: Summer/Fall 2026.

Details at puppies.nick.org.