05/29/2026
We've been quiet as our family has been grieving the loss of Bentley. We thought you might appreciate an update on how his brother Oakley is doing.
A couple of days after Bentley passed, Oakley began showing signs of depression and melancholy as he adjusted to life without his brother. After all, Bentley had been by his side since the day he was born. He's never known a world without him.
One of the things grief teaches us, again and again, is that no amount of experience makes someone immune to loss.
At Krill, we spend so much time talking about grief support, healthy coping, emotional connection, and the importance of allowing people space to mourn honestly. We encourage families to lean on routines, memories, community, and small sources of comfort in the difficult days after a loss.
Now, we find ourselves trying to practice those same things.
We're leaning on each other. On stories. On laughter between tears. On the quiet rituals that suddenly feel sacred: looking at photos we've seen a hundred times, catching ourselves expecting Bentley to be in his favorite spot on the porch, and making sure Oakley knows he isn't facing this new reality alone.
We've been keeping his spirits up with lots of love, including water therapy and visits with his friends at Louie’s Playhouse. We're so grateful for both his furry and not-so-furry friends who are helping us ease him through this adjustment.
Oakley didn't just lose his partner in therapy work. He lost his brother. The two of them moved through life together: training together, working together, playing together, growing up together. Their bond was constant and instinctive.
Now, in many ways, we're grieving together, finding comfort in one another as we learn how to move through a world without Bentley.
There's something deeply bittersweet about being comforted by the very kind of grief support Bentley helped us believe in so strongly.
Even now, he is still teaching us. 💙
