Seasons of Change

Matt and I have had some busy, exciting, and challenging months as we moved into summer 2011. We are now officially married! Yay, I'll write more on that later and all the excitement of our new life together.

Just before our wedding though, we were faced with tragedy. Our one year old puppy, Hogan, was lost, and then later hit by a car. While he was just a dog, we treated him like our child and so losing him was devastating and heart breaking, especially just two weeks before our wedding.

Matt and I have been through a lot while dating; he had back surgery, Matt was laid off, I was sick for a while, and yet losing Hogan was probably the hardest thing either of us has ever gone through, not only in the time we've been dating, but in our lives.

We thank God for the time we had with Hogan and still wonder why he was taken from us so soon. It gets a little easier each day, but some days we will still think of him and cry because we miss him. He was a handful, but he was sweet, loving, funny, and a ball of energy!

Matt and I learned many things from having him. I think most of all we learned to be a little selfless because he had to always come first. Will we keep this up? hhmm...I hope. We will if we want kids some day right?! We also learned to work better together. I think we were Matt and Annie, two people dating for so long. Hogan made us a family, having to work together and come together for a common purpose.

Matt and I also learned many things from losing him. We learned that we can get through the pain, the anger, the sadness together. We are good partners and we understand what each other needs.

People ask if we will get another dog sometime soon and we pause. Matt's initial reaction was to get a new dog right away; rescue one from the pound! As time goes on though, we realize we are still wounded. We  need time to heal before we can care for another furry friend. Our hearts are still just a little broken.

As we take each day, life is truly different. Matt and I have had to learn to be us again, pre-Hogan, pre-wedding planning. It's been an interesting adjustment that we are getting used to. We shall see what the future holds.

RIP Hogan. We will always remember and miss you.