Jake Sternbach

I went with Jake the day he got Xena. She was the runt of the litter and Jake actually dropped her while handling her at first. I thought he would walk away empty handed but he was dead set on being her caretaker. A couple years later, Jake and I moved in together and Xena basically became my dog too. He was an excellent dog dad. Xena was not the easiest but Jake trained her to be (somewhat) housebroken. Despite losing touch a bit over the years, I had coincidentally called Jake the morning she passed. We had never cried in front of each other before but we cried together that day on the phone and it felt fated that we were there for each other in that moment.

I think that was the last time we spoke and I'm still trying to process that being our last conversation. I'm grateful for having known Jake. Jake was unapologetically himself. He had creative and daring solutions, with his unique and unfiltered perspective. He has stories that will last the rest of our lifetimes. And he had the deepest, most uncomplicated form of love in his relationship with Xena that I witnessed on a daily basis and could also feel through his grief. Weirdly, I can't remember well how he sounded when he cried that day, but I can disticntly hear his laugh while he would play with Xena in our tiny bachelor pad.

Jake was one of my best friends, not because he was a particularly good friend.. because he was a good soul and he cared. He always had the time of day for me. He had an endless passion for pursuing good company and good times. He was a force to be reckoned with. Jake will not be forgotten easily, that's a fight he'll win for a long time to come.