I'm still standing

 I'm still standing.

Some days, I don't know how.
Some days, it feels like the weight of missing you should have knocked me down long ago.
But here I am.
Still breathing.
Still moving.
Still carrying a heart that broke the day yours stopped beating.
And I think the reason I'm still standing is because of you.
Not despite losing you.
Because of loving you.
When you first left, I thought grief would be one giant wave.
One unbearable storm that would come and go.
I didn't know it would arrive in little moments.
The empty spot beside the couch.
The unopened bag of treats tucked away in a cabinet.
The toy that somehow found its way behind a chair and stayed there for months because I couldn't bring myself to move it.
I didn't know that love could leave so many fingerprints behind.
Every room still knows you.
Every corner still remembers.
Sometimes I catch myself smiling at memories before the sadness arrives.
The way you ran when you were excited.
The way your ears perked up when you heard a familiar word.
The way you looked at me as if I was the most important person in the entire world.
And maybe I was.
At least to you.
That kind of love changes a person.
It changes the way you see loyalty.
The way you understand devotion.
The way you measure a life.
You never cared about success.
Or money.
Or all the things people spend years chasing.
You cared about being together.
A walk.
A cuddle.
A quiet moment sitting side by side.
You taught me that the greatest things in life are often the simplest.
And even now, you're still teaching me.
Because every day I wake up and choose to keep going, I realize something.
Grief is not proof that I'm weak.
It's proof that I loved deeply.
The tears are not failures.
They are reminders.
Reminders that a beautiful soul walked beside me.
That my life was brighter because you were in it.
That my heart expanded because you loved me without conditions.
Some days, I still cry when I see your collar.
Some days, I still whisper your name into the silence.
Some days, I still wish I could feel your head resting against my hand one more time.
But alongside the sadness, something else has grown.
Gratitude.
A quiet, steady gratitude.
Because out of all the people and all the dogs in this world, somehow we found each other.
What a miracle that was.
And what a gift.
I imagine you now beyond the Rainbow Bridge.
Running through fields kissed by golden sunlight.
Chasing the wind.
Splashing through crystal streams.
Healthy and happy beneath endless skies.
I like to think you glance back sometimes.
Not because you're worried.
Not because you're lonely.
But because love still connects us.
A thread that distance cannot break.
A bond that time cannot erase.
And when life feels heavy, I picture you there.
Tail wagging.
Eyes shining.
Cheering me on the way you always did.
That's when I understand something important.
I am not standing because the grief is gone.
I am standing because your love remains.
It holds me up on the hardest days.
It walks beside me through every season.
It reminds me that even loss cannot destroy what was built from the heart.
So yes...
I'm still standing.
Not because I stopped loving you.
But because I never will.
And somehow, your love is still helping me find my footing.
One step.
One day.
One memory at a time. 
Forever loved.
Forever carried.
Forever standing with love.