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Lindsay Ostrom
September 19, 2026
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Hi reader,
Since the day we brought our dog into our home, I’ve known that one day we’d have to say goodbye. And I knew that it would be sad.
But when we said goodbye to our girl Sage last week, in her favorite sunny spot out on the deck, curled up with a bowl of ice cream on the bed we got for her 12 years ago, I didn’t expect it to feel like such a deep, profound, life-altering loss.
She’s been a steady presence with us through so many seasons of life. As we look at old pictures and videos when she was young, and we were young, and the girls were babies, it almost takes my breath away. Time can’t have gone that fast.
For 13 years, she was the start and the end to our days. I can still hear her paws on the hardwood floor, and my feet still automatically step over her spot as we tuck the girls in for bed.
My body is trying to learn her absence, but it still feels all wrong. It can’t be my life if it doesn’t have her in it.
Normally fall is my happiest cooking time, but it’s been such a sad week for our family that I’ve found myself repeatedly coming back to food as comfort this week: instant pot spaghetti and garlic bread (twice, actually, because the girls love it so much), the freezer meals I prepped this month (thank goodness for those), and just two huge cookies after the girls go to bed.
I have cried more tears than I knew I had in me. I think all dog owners feel a version of this, but I know in my heart that Sage was the kind of dog you only get once in a lifetime.
I also know the sadness is just a reflection of the blessing we had: the joy, companionship, and love of a good dog for almost 13 years. And I will always carry that love with me.
Here’s a post I shared on Instagram with a few more pictures. Thanks for loving Sage with us over the years. ❤️
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Lindsay
