TWD/BWJ: Double Chocolate Cookies

These cookies came along just in time. I needed chocolate. And they delivered.

Don, Rachel, and Sallie in 1997.
He quickly lost the size advantage.

I remember it well. The day Michael opened the front door, tossed two small black puppies inside, and quickly ran back toward the garage announcing over his shoulder that "one of them puked in the car!" Wait. What? TWO of them? I distinctly remember saying that I'd take ONE. They'd been found together in a ditch in Gwinnett County. Sisters. I don't know who abandoned them there, but I do know that our lives were changed by that act. It was August of 1997. Our dogs have always had human names. (We used to name them after sleazy politicians, but that's another story.) The kids picked the names for these two, and so they became Sallie and Rachel. They joined Don, our little black shar pei mix, who was the leader of the pack until he died at the ripe old age of 18 years. A few years ago, a weimaraner named Lady joined our family.

Now Sallie and Rachel are parted for the first time in 16 years. Our dear sweet Rachel had a neurological disorder that caused her to lose the use of her back legs. It started over a year ago when she began to drag her right foot. Eventually she could barely walk, and this past weekend we knew it was time to let her go. When I called my daughter at school to let her know, she said "I think I'll come home." And when I called my son, he showed up here too. Dr. Dani has known and loved Rachel for years. She's a mobile vet, comes to our house, so we were all gathered around Rachel as her spirit left her poor broken body. It's the hardest thing to do, to let a loved one go.

My heart hurts. I've been going through the motions since Saturday. Didn't even know it was Tuesdays With Dorie day until the email arrived. But thankfully there was chocolate involved. This one's for Rachel.

And since they were such a pair for 16 years, this seems like an appropriate picture.