One phrase in my vocabulary gets more usage than any other: “People are the worst.” As a lifelong, card-carrying cynic, all the evidence I find seems to point to this statement as a core truth. But no matter how I crunch the numbers, somehow, saying goodbye to my best and closest friend made the world a better place. My world, at least.

It’s coming on a year since my beloved corgi passed, and as time drags me towards this gloomy anniversary and the Earth completes its first full spin without him, I’m surprised at how much my perspective has changed.

This is the first big grief........

© The Sydney Morning Herald