As a Certified Pet Loss and Bereavement Specialist and Life & Grief Coach, my education and work has been rooted in love and shaped by the journey I shared with my soul dog, Moka.

I was her Mama and Moka was the love of my life. For nearly 15 years she filled my heart and world with joy, her soulful presence, and gentle patience touching everyone she met. SHE WAS PERFECT.

Losing her was the hardest chapter of my life.

In her 14th year, Moka suffered a brain injury that changed everything. She began having seizures. She started biting, she became protective over her food and she no longer wanted to be held in the way she once melted into my arms.

I barely recognized the dog who had been my steady, gentle companion for so many years. It felt like the last stretch of our time together had been taken from us, stolen by something we could not fight or fix.

That final year was a tender ache for both of us. It was full of uncertainty, confusion, and quiet heartbreak. I was loving her and losing her at the same time. Anticipatory grief is real. I found myself mourning a dog who was still here, still breathing, still mine… but slipping away in ways I could not stop.

Moka passed three weeks before her fifteenth birthday. And even now, I carry the echo of that year in a place only she ever touched.

That experience transformed me.