Love you, Rachey.

Rachel, thinking of you on Easter.

I love and miss you :(.

Missed you at Thanksgiving. Remember the year I gave you turkey, and you threw up :(. Love you.

Happy Birthday, Rachel. You were thought of all day :(.

Happy Easter, Rachey.

Happy St. Patrick's Day :).

Happy Valentine's Day, Rachel. I'm sure you and Pop-Pop will spend the day together :').

Hope you, Rebecca, and Pop-Pop (and Sarah too) had a good Thanksgiving in heaven.

Be sure to celebrate Rebecca's birthday? Pop-Pop ok?

September, your birthday month. Rachel, you would have been 21! You taking care of Pop-Pop?

Missing you :(.

We love Easter, don't we Rachel :').

Rachel, sorry I didn't update your page on Valentine's Day. Please know that I thought of you, Rebecca, and Pop-Pop all day. You taking care of Pop-Pop? He loved you so much. xxoo

Missing you today as you celebrate your 5th year in Heaven. I take comfort in knowing you are there with Pop-Pop, Rebecca, and Sarah. Dave misses you as much as I do. We will toast to your memory tonight :(.

Happy Birthday, Rachey. Can't believe you are 20 years old! Take care of Pop-Pop. I'm sure he loves being with you, and you love being with him. Miss you :(.

Happy Easter, baby Rachel :(.

Thanksgiving was so lonely without you, Rebecca, and Pop-Pop :(.

Happy Birthday Rachel!!! Can't believe you'd be 19 years old today :'). Dave and I are thinking of you. Hope you are spending your day with Pop-Pop, Rebecca, Sarah, and Phoebe. xxoo

Rachel, how's Pop-Pop? Did you and Rebecca make sure he had a nice birthday in heaven? :(

You taking care of Pop-Pop? :(. Stay together this St. Patrick's Day and Easter. Miss you :(.

Rachel, please forgive me for not updating your page for Valentine's Day (I will do that now), but as you know Pop-Pop has joined you and Rebecca in heaven. My heart is broken. It was so quick, and we are all still in shock :(. You were Pop-Pop's favorite, "his love" he called you. Take care of each other.

Merry Christmas, Rachey..xxoo

Happy Thanksgiving, my Rachel.

Rach, please help make Rebecca's birthday/anniversary of her passing special in Heaven :')

Always thinking of you, especially during September - the month you were born :). You were (and continue to be) such a bright light in my life.

Rachey, please watch over Opal :).

Rachel, missing you each and every day. Hope you had a Happy St. Patrick's Day and, more importantly, a Happy Easter in Heaven.

Our hearts are broken today as you celebrate two years in heaven. I think about you each and every day, and you are always close to my heart.

Merry Christmas, Rachey. Your second anniversary is coming up. I just can't believe it :'(.

This was your second Thanksgiving in heaven, and you were missed and thought of :(.

You are forever in my heart and mind, my darling Rachel.

September. Your birthday month. Can't believe you would have been 17 on the 10th. Will celebrate your life this entire month and, as I do everyday, think of you and miss you with all my heart.

Happy Easter, bunny :). You were desperately missed and thought about and prayed for.

Happy St. Patrick's Day :(.

Happy Valentine's Day to my forever Valentine, Rachel.

We are thinking about you on your first anniversary in heaven, and our hearts are broken.

How can you be gone almost a year? My heart breaks every day.

Merry Christmas Rachel. This will be your first Christmas in heaven. You and Rebecca spend it together and know that we miss you with all our hearts.

Happy Thanksgiving my baby. This is your first Thanksgiving in heaven, and we will all miss you dearly, but you are always remembered.

HAPPY 16th BIRTHDAY my darling. Guess what? There is a new schnauzer in the family, and her name is Opal. She reminds me so much of you except that she has donkey ears - lol - hopefully, she will grow up to be as wonderful as you were. We miss you with all our hearts.

Rach, well I've been in Ohio for over a month and things are going pretty well :) Dave and I miss you :(

Rachey, remember you and I talked about moving with Dave to Cincinnati? Well, the time is almost here. Be sure to come along with mommy and Rebecca and take whatever you will need from NYC before we leave - LOL. It's quite an adventure, but certainly won't be the same without your physical presence. Know that you are missed every day - especially now with all the changes going on.

Rachel, I know you liked to bark at Phoebe, and she liked to tease you, but please take care and embrace her.

An Incredible Journey

It is with a broken heart that I tell you my beloved Rachel passed away
on Saturday, January 16 at 4:30 pm.
  
She was without a doubt the world's worst puppy (and I say that with a
big smile on my face) who tortured and abused her entire family with
her antics of scaling walls in order to escape the bathroom during wee
wee pad training, to wedging herself under an old-style radiator so she
could eat through the alarm wires of my apartment, therefore, setting
off the alarm system and the NYPD being called, to making her
grandmother, Patsy, chase after her while she was in a cast with a
broken ankle (Patsy not Rachel). 
  
Rachel's stories are endless as was her wonderful life. She has brought
me an immeasurable amount of joy and fulfillment and made me realize
that the one thing I did right in life was to be a good dog mom. Her
medical history will go down in the chronicles of super dogs who were
able to overcome and persevere everything from two different types of
cancer to turning yellow - literally overnight - with canine hepatitis
(twice in 9 months), to hypo-thyroidism, to pancreatitis (twice within
10 days of each other), to one day fainting right in front of my eyes
only to find out Rachel now has herself not only a murmur, but also
heart disease, and these are just the more "serious" illnesses.
Rachel's tenacity and will to survive and recover has always amazed,
awed, and inspired me. 
  
Over the past couple of weeks, I watched my little girl "get old" in
front of my eyes and develop complications from intestinal disease, but
she continued to fight, go to her doctor's appointments and act as if
she was fine. She'd be through with her check up and trot down the
hallway towards the waiting room as if she were 5 years old again! All
a sign of her continued strength and stubborness. 
  
How do you convey feelings about a dog that not only enriched your own
life, but has been part of a family that welcomed new babies into the
world, to couples getting married and divorced, to your own family
members passing on, and to the start of a new and wonderful
relationship? 
  
What will life be like "without Rachey?" I've heard it from my own
family who have been part Rachel's life from the beginning.  What will
Pop-Pop do without "his love?"  It pains and saddens me to know that my
4 year old niece, Isabella will grow up without her "friend" Rachel to
run up and down the hallway with, how much Dave will miss "#1," and who
will Uncle Matty sit next to and stroke when he is sitting on the couch
in my apartment?  No doubt, there will be a void that can never be
filled, but wonderful memories of an angel that oh so many years ago
had to have emergency surgery to have a subway token, a nickel, a dime,
a couple of pennies, two pieces of brass and porcelain surgically
removed from her belly! Some said she was preparing for a quick getaway
with all the money in her stomach!!  The puppy that was so
devilish, who one afternoon decided to go into her Aunt Nancy's
underwear draw and carry out (in her mouth) an assortment of Victoria's
Secret stockings and dropped them on the living floor with a house full
of people, turned into the most wonderful companion anyone could every
ask for. The bond Rachel and I had can never be severed or taken away,
and I will carry her with me always. 
  
I ask you all today, to pray for my wonderful girl that she will once
again be that healthy puppy causing havoc in heaven with my darling
Rebecca, Granny, Sarah, and all the other angels. 
  
Rachel, from the bottom of my broken heart, your mommy thanks you for
an incredible journey. 
  
xxoo