Latch, Laugh, and Repeat

Two years ago today, my husband and I found out we were having a baby girl. A memory popped up on my phone—me beaming, holding the ultrasound, while our old dog Tiki pressed her nose towards the ultrasound photo like she already understood. Her ears back, her face lit up. She was the FIRST to know.

I think back to the exact moment I took the pregnancy test. It was day 30 of my cycle, and I thought, let’s just see… I grabbed a dollar-store pregnancy test (shocker, you don’t have to spend a fortune for these), sat down on the toilet, and of course, Tiki was glued to me. Whining, pacing, dancing around like she’d explode if I didn’t let her outside. I figured I had three minutes before checking the result.

We got outside, but she just stood there, staring at me. No bathroom break. No movement. Just staring at me like I owed her something. It was strange and honestly annoying. We ran back inside—and there it was: a faint line. Positive.

I looked at her and instantly lost it. Tears, laughter, disbelief. She lit up, eyes wide, tail wagging, as if to say, Finally, you know too. I blurted out, “You knew this whole time!” She wandered over to the spot by our late dog’s ashes, and I dropped to my knees, hugging her through sobs. It was one of the most powerful, connected moments of my life. Understanding without any words.

Dogs know. They feel things before we do. They pull us out of distraction and force us into presence. No phone. No work. No scrolling. Just connection.

And that’s why this moment stays with me—not the faint line itself, but her look, her knowing, her way of pulling me fully into the present.

Dogs remind us of what we so often forget: the present moment is everything. They don’t worry about tomorrow or replay yesterday. They just show up, fully here, pulling us with them.

And maybe that’s why this memory feels so etched into me. Not because it marked the start of something new, but because it reminded me—then and still now—how powerful it is to pause, to notice, to connect. That’s where the real magic lives.