Rainbow Bridge Memorial

Grace "Rag's Hard Candy"

Grace
"Rag's Hard Candy"
#4827
May 16, 2004 - March 12, 2010

Dearly missed by Deb and Rob Snyder

 Gracie (Rag’s Hard Candy) came into our lives and left us all too soon. In Sept ’08 we adopted Gracie and her first brother, whom we named George. George and Gracie were not, as most assumed, named after the late, great George Burns and his wife, but after the whales from Star Trek IV. Gracie had our hearts from the beginning, wih her half-closed eyes and serene (even sedate) attitude about life. It turned out that George and Gracie were never the best of friends, so we got Gracie a new brother, Nemo, in April ’09. Correction: Gracie picked Nemo to be her brother in April ’09! He was the only adoption prospect at whom she did not growl, so we trusted her doggie-wisdom and our little family settled in harmoniously.

As time went on, Rob deployed with the Army and Deb stayed home with the dogs, often walking with them 2-3 times per day. Gracie sometimes lagged behind because of an old injury – a broken back leg that never healed strongly. Because of the odd way she would favor this leg as she walked, in sort of a tipsy, doodling way, one of her nicknames became Doodlegirl. However, she still loved to run at the park once a week, and excitement beamed from her eyes whenever she heard the jingle of the leash. She was also quite a sun-worshipper. She would head to the backyard to soak up some sunshine whenever she could, lying stretched out on her side, reveling in the warm bliss of the present moment.

In December ’09, Gracie was diagnosed with bone cancer, to our utter shock. We did our best to make her life as peaceful and joyful as possible in her last months with us. She was nearly 6 years old.

As we move toward parenthood, we will remember the lessons Gracie taught us about true compassion, loyalty, trust, and finding within ourselves a deep well of strength to be responsible for another life, even if the responsibility is painful and difficult to bear. But, more than that, she gave us the incredible gift of deeply understanding the value of the present moment. Enjoy the sunshine while it is here, because no one knows what will happen tomorrow. We will carry this knowledge, and the memory of our dear Doodlegirl, in our hearts forever.