A Dad's Love. A Dog's Comfort.
A SPECIAL COMPANION JOINS THE FAMILY.
He was the kind of dad who listened. The kind of dad never too tired to throw the ball in the backyard, coach his son’s little league team, or pick up his best bud from school and lend an ear on the drive home.
Derik was the kind of dad who showed up. But beneath his daily school drop-offs and the family’s laundry, U.S. Army veteran Derik fought the memories of the frontlines of Afghanistan. His wife of 10 years, Mary Margaret, knew he’d seen too much. More than one should have to bear.
At eight, Aaron lost his dad.
Just like that, everything changed. The home for three now held two. A mother and a son grieving the loss of a dad who’d always stuck by their side.
“It turned our lives upside down,” Mary Margaret says. “Aaron had this intense fear inside our home after that day.”
After, Aaron avoided looking around the corners into each room. The backyard, once his safe space for practicing sports, turned into a field of unknowns. A small piece of advice soon came from Derik’s brother—the suggestion to apply for a Gold Star family dog.
Like a gift on Christmas morning—as Aaron calls that day—Gold Star family dog Summers arrived. Summers watches over her best friend, Aaron. She lets him rest, telling him it’s safe as he turns around a corner. Always there, always looking ahead.
“The bond between the two of them is phenomenal,” Mary Margaret says. “Summers just comforts him, and that’s one of the main things Aaron needed—something, or someone, to provide him safety and comfort.”
She leads Aaron to the calm of bedtime, lying next to him, never too far from her person. Her purpose. And there’s not a day that goes by that Aaron doesn’t say, “I love you, Summers.”
While Derik’s love was something special only a dad can give, Summers steps in and comforts as if she knows exactly where she’s needed, riding along to Aaron’s school drop-offs and pick-ups, playing ball in the backyard, resting next to him during homework time, and cuddling when the nights feel long.
Settling in like a family member who’s always been there, Summers’ love finds a place where Derik’s family needs it most.
Because he was the kind of dad who’d want his son to smile again, to love again, to find comfort in a companion who snuggles and calms his fears.
He was just that kind of dad.
Mission of Hope
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