Miss you, Little D

Taking a break from my typical essays about startups and tech to acknowledge Little D.

I fell in love with Simon Hintermann's work as soon as I saw it. His art elicits feelings of nostalgia and curiosity, reminiscent of childhood.

A few months ago I reached out to commission a piece. Unlike Simon’s typical work, we wanted it to be grounded in real memories. I shared photos of the LA hills that we used to explore, Suzy, me, and Little D as tears dripped onto my phone.

Little D, our 17-year-old white pom, passed away this January. I often cry when I think about him.

My tears usually appear at home in private. But sometimes they erupt in public with embarrassment, despite my best attempt to push the tennis ball down my throat.

I ask myself:

“It’s been nearly a year since we lost him. Why am I still crying?”

I tend to view life through reason and logic. Perhaps there’s intelligence in feelings that cannot be articulated.

Suzy and I used to hike with Little D, although he didn’t do much walking. His tiny legs were crippled. The best he could do was army crawl. So we carried him around the hills of LA.

The little guy was also partially blind and deaf.

He relied on us, that was clear. And maybe I relied on him too.

❤️ you, Little D.