I’ve been able to mention Cooper’s death without tearing up for about week now. Common wisdom and my own experience tells us that time, as it goes by, makes the pain of loss less sharp. It’s never gone. But it becomes softer.

Some moments catch us unexpectedly, like the lovely coffee shop person who didn’t know yet, and enthusiastically asked about Cooper today. She was always so nice to Cooper.

It’s been a month since her euthanasia. Add three days to that for the timeline I learned she was terminally ill.

She still jumped up on the flower wall in front of the law school to catwalk during those three days, and she still traversed over the cobblestones and weeds to get to the shore of the river during those three days. She was vibrant, even when she wasn’t well.

I thought I would celebrate her one month later by sharing some of my favorite recent memories of her here. I hope you enjoy them!

The Memphis womens and inclusiveness March in January 2017. After the 2016 election, I woke up in the middle of the night to check the results. I wasn’t home that night and typically she would be with me, but for whatever reason that night I left her at home. Seeing the election results at 3am had me pretty scared. Not for myself, but for tons of others. Anyway, I drove home at 3am because I just wanted to snuggle her; I left my car in the alley behind my building for safety reasons, forgot about it the next morning because I don’t normally drive, and I got towed. Impounded, actually. But that’s for a different story.

The bluff along the Mississippi River is a favorite destination for many families. A few years ago the Memphis Grizzlies branded these stairs up to the bluff from the river. When she was younger Cooper used to run these stairs with me. Around when she was 7 I started leashing her in the middle while I jogged the stairs. She’d sniff around while I was up or down the stairs away from her, and then block my path when I got close to her. She was so funny!

We had a good life with friends. What more is there to say about that? I am so lucky for these friends, and she had a lot of love around her.

We had a lot of downtown social outings, whether at restaurants or organized events. This photo was taken at 4th Bluff Park during one of the Friday evening 4th Bluff Happy Hours – right outside my office and block from my apartment. She spent the day at the office with me – like most Fridays – and then we headed over to happy hour. Her eye is on my cup of beer, which I always let her taste from my finger.

The puppy she tolerated (sort of). Maximillian came into her life in early April 2017. She taught him almost everything. 🙂 In fact he catwalks at the law school building and jumps up on the planter walls on Main Street, just like he saw her do. He used to be too small to get up there with her, and he whined. She was just relieved to get away from him for a moment. 😂

The day of the eclipse in 2017. I took the day off work and hung out with her all day. We had a vet appointment that morning for her 6-month check up. All was fine. Then we went to Shelby Farms Park, her favorite place (and where part of her ashes are scattered, thanks to my ex husband who loved her as much as I did). She swam and ran, until she noticed the atmospheric (?) changes from the eclipse. Then she sat down next to me as soon as the birds stopped chirping and the crickets started buzzing – she knew something was different. This is one of my all-time favorite memories of her.

The way we nap. Rest In Peace, Coop!