Golden Retriever and Woman

This is not a portrait of how things were, but how they felt.
It is me, thirty years ago, before doubt learned my name. (Although it could be anyone.)
It is my dog, exactly as she is now: steady, forgiving, present.

I chose a younger woman because memory is kinder than mirrors.
Because love does not age the way faces do.
Because some bonds exist outside time altogether.

In this painting, we meet where past and present overlap—
where a girl, a woman, and a dog share the same quiet truth:
that love, once given, never really leaves.