The Big, Black Dog that Stole My Heart
From Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Dog Really Did That?
By Dori Hillestad Butler

My therapist has a wagging tail.
~Author Unknown

When my boys were little, I rarely thought about what it would be like when they grew up and moved out. If I did think about it, I imagined them living across town, not halfway across the country. Then my son Ben was offered a job 2,000 miles away. In just nine short months, he would graduate from college and move clear across the country.

I understood this was good news, not bad news. This was what we raised our kids to do: to be independent and self-sufficient, and to have the skills and confidence to make a life for themselves away from home. But I felt like I was in the midst of postpartum depression, only in reverse. I didn't know this was something that sometimes happened to women when their children grew up. I was sad all the time and broke into tears for no apparent reason. (Keep reading)