I've put off writing this blog. Maybe because I'm not sure how our family changed so much so fast. Maybe I'm not fully over losing a family member in 2021.
In June 2021, I lost my heart dog. My sweet baby Cooper who had been with me since 2015. 2015 was a hard year for me and Cooper was by my side for all of it.
As you can imagine, we were crushed. Devastated. Tank - who had been with Cooper every day of his life - has been lost. We've grieved and we've tried to be there for each other the last 8 months.
Cooper was the first dog Eric and I had as a couple. He went with me everywhere from day 1. I am so thankful I have videos and pictures and general just dog-mom-craziness that allows me to remember the good times.
We remember this sweet, silly, marvelously intelligent boy every day. And I still make sure every recipe, every treat, everything I do would make that picky boy happy <3
(See the lovely tribute my friend, Megan, made to Cooper below)
One thing that I always promised myself was that if I lost a dog, that I would not let myself close off to other dogs. And my wonderful husband also made sure of that. In July, we picked up Gemma. Now grant it, it took us over a week to name her... and we don't often call her Gemma... Mostly she gets called "Bean" or "Gemma Bean". But if you are a dog person, you know that your dog gets alllll kinds of nicknames. This one has just stubbornly stuck around.
We got her at 8 weeks old. And somehow without realizing it, I think she has begun to heal my heart. Tank, Molly, and Scout all love her. Eric and I adore her. At 6 months, she graduated a 6 week puppy class and is so so smart. We found out she is a Heinz 57 pup with American Pitbull Terrier (40%), Golden Retriever (10%), Labrador Retriever (10%), and German Shepard (10%). But the best is that the rest of her is Super Mutt (Border Collie, Australian Shepard, and Cattle Dog).
Immediately, her favorite place was to sleep under my bed (if that sounds familiar, it's because that's where Cooper slept every night). She's picking up on some of Cooper's best tricks. She barks, but loves everyone immediately. She sleeps in my lap or next to the front door (another Cooper trait) every evening until bed time. She loves balls, frisbees, and water. And I can't help but feel Cooper sent her to me. She's helped Tank be a little less grumpy. She loves on Molly so much that it hurts. And her and Scout are adventure buddies. <3
Scout, Molly, and Tank are still their same wonderful selves. Although, Scout recently had a seizure. We are hoping it was a one time occurrence and keeping a close eye on him. Luckily he was with me at the bakery and I caught it immediately. So keep our little family in your thoughts and prayers as we heal this year <3
A big shout out to Megan Levens' comic "The Goobies" for their memorial of Cooper. We were on our way to Ozzie's (Megan's Boston) birthday party that afternoon.
