Sweet dreams, Miss Isabelle.....

I have always tried to preserve this blog to only AHOP-related stories and recipes, telling my readers that "it's not about me."

But sometimes it is about me.  I said goodbye to my sweet Miss Isabelle on Thursday and I am heartbroken. I held her sweet little face in my hands just like I always did at home and told her how much I loved her, and then she drifted away. 

When the AHOP light was on in the window for breakfast or dinner, Isabelle always enjoyed making an appearance in the dining room to say hello to the 1st and 2nd shift officers.  She would weave her little black and white body in-between their legs at the table or just sit there long enough so Officer Tom would pet the top of her little head.  She also knew if she bothered them 'just long enough', I would stop and feed her (again).  

Officer Tom always looked for Miss Isabelle before he left so he could say good-bye.  He would pass through the den where she was usually on the ottoman or in her big comfy chair and he would give her a pat on the head and say...."Bye Izzie".

The quiet in my house now is almost unbearable.  I would give anything to flip a pancake or two, or make a meatloaf right now -- just to keep me busy.  I have never missed my friends more.   

Sweet dreams, Miss Isabelle.....  ♥

"What we have once enjoyed 

we can never lose. All that we love 

deeply becomes a part of us."

~ Helen Keller

   "The risk of love is loss, and the price of loss is
grief. But the pain of grief is only a
 shadow when compared to the pain of 
never risking love.”
– Hilary Stanton Zunin