Annabelle was a Yorkshire Terrier who came into our lives a bit over 7 years ago. From the beginning, I took her hiking on the trails in the I-90 corridor: Mt. Si, Mailbox Peak, McClellan's Butte, Granite Mountain, Mt. Defiance, Rampart Lakes, Silver Peak and many others. She was quite the trooper for an 8.5 lbs. female yorkie. The only time she asked to be picked up, was when we travelled off-trail and the brush or the sticks became too much for her to negotiate. She and our other dog Gus, were our constant companions on all of the hikes my wife and I did. She came along on the Chanterelle and Morel mushroom hunting expeditions, responsible for all of the off-trail experiences. She was my first real dog (I was a cat person previously) and both she and I bonded deeply, incredibly so. Her sudden death was due to a reaction from the anesthetic administered during a routine teeth-cleaning, which caused pancreatitis which evolved into hemorrhagic gastroenteritis (HGE); despite three trips to the local vet and a final trip to Blue Pearl Animal Hospital, in a failed attempt to save her life. Her death in the early hours of October 23, 2024, was completely unexpected and induced an incredible anguish and grieving within me. How could the unexpected death of a pet cause such brutal, emotional pain. Well, it does. The Laps of Love grieving class I attended, helped me to begin to move on. In an effort to fill the void in our lives, we adopted two Yorkshires from the same breeder Annabelle had come from. A 9 month-old female and her 5 year-old mother. So now our house and lives are filled with Yorkshire energy and cuteness again. But the two new-to-us yorkies, of course, have distinctly unique personalities, very different from Annabelle's. And what I have learned, is that even though one can adopt a pet to fill the void in one's life created by the death of another pet, the deceased pet is far from forgotten. The 7 years of constantly being together, through the triais, tribulations and life's glorius experiences with the unconditional love and bond of a specific pet, cannot be exactly replaced. There was no period of anticipitory grief possible, because she died unexpectedly. So I write this with a tear in my eye, missing my little yorkie companion, who always sat on the center console of the car, waiting for me to return to the car from the post office or Safeway. Taken far too early and under very unfortunate circumstances, I will always miss my Annabelle.