Cosmo is my wife Anne’s dog. She came into her life as a puppy over 17 ½ years ago. I first met her a little over 4 years ago, when Anne and I began dating.

She was an old doggy then, but she was still very much a puppy. She loved to play chase and would run full bore up and down the hallway creating a “racetrack” that Anne lovingly referred to as the “Cosmo Speedway.” She created a speedway and raced almost nightly through two household moves. It was hard to believe that she was still capable of doing this as a doggy of such advanced age.

When Anne and Cosmo moved in with us, I introduced her to pancake breakfasts. My daughter, Chelsea, routinely has pancakes with raspberry sauce on the weekends she stays at our house. I started making bite-size pancakes for Cosmo and served them to her along with Chelsea. Cosmo loved her pancakes ‘til the very end. They became known as “Cosi-cakes.” I loved giving her that little bit of joy every other weekend; she was my second best customer.

On the intervening weekends, Anne and I would occasionally make scrambled eggs with everything under the sun in them. She knew they were coming when she smelled the fresh onion and garlic cooking. Cosmo would wake up from her morning nap and hang out in the kitchen, following us around until her eggs were ready; oh how she loved those eggs. She eventually lost her taste for eggs, but never lost her taste for pancakes!

Cosmo lived to be a grand old lady, full of wisdom and grace. Anne loves her Cosmo very much. The connection to her little companion runs very deep. She made her transition just over 3 weeks ago and is missed very much. My hope is that she is given a role with another family who will love and care for her and benefit from her energy, loyalty, and quirky uniqueness as much as her Mommy has for these many years, and I have for just these past few years.