I found Pearl in an alley when she was just six weeks old—scared, cold, hungry, and alone. She wouldn’t have made it through the night. Bringing her home felt less like a choice and more like something that had to happen.

Before we had kids, Pearl was our first baby. We woke up in the middle of the night to take her out, learning what it meant to care for something completely dependent on us. In a lot of ways, she prepared us for becoming parents. A year later, we had our first child—but Pearl was the one who taught us how to love like that.

She was loyal in a way that’s hard to explain unless you’ve experienced it. She was always by my side, always there, always mine. Her love was constant and unconditional, no matter what kind of day I was having.

Pearl wasn’t just a dog. She was the beginning of our family.