Oprah Winfrey is mourning the death of her two year-old golden retriever, Gracie.
"Weeks have passed," Winfrey says in the August issue of O, the Oprah Magazine. "And the pain has not subsided. Every time I think about it, my heart starts racing and I feel like I just got stabbed in the chest."
On May 26, Gracie choked to death on a plastic ball that belonged to Sophie, Oprah Winfrey's 12-year-old cocker spaniel, while out with her dog walker and two other golden retrievers, Winfrey says.
Oprah Winfrey who "stood there dazed, stunned, crying" as Gracie was placed in a golf cart - says she learned this lesson: Enjoy life but remember to slow down, too.
Winfrey says she "got the message" to slow down and catch her breath when Gracie died.
"I don't believe in accidents," says the host of the Oprah Show and Oprah's School benefactor. "I know for sure that everything in life happens to help us live."