{"id":3809,"date":"2025-07-11T20:20:36","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T20:20:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/?p=3809"},"modified":"2025-07-11T20:23:37","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T20:23:37","slug":"the-best-boy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/?p=3809","title":{"rendered":"The Best Boy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><em>\u201cBut in the end journey&#8217;s brought joys<br>That outweigh the pain.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">\u2013 Frank Turner, \u201cJourney of the Magi\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On Tuesday, June 24<sup>th<\/sup> we said goodbye to our dog Sherlock. He was the best boy. He was picky about who he accepted, but, once you were part of his inner circle he loved hard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We adopted him in December 2012. He was 8 months old but had been so malnourished as a puppy that the vet thought his growth was likely stunted. When I think back to my life back then, things were so different it kind of makes my head spin. We lived in the first house we bought together after marriage. My mom was still healthy. Danny had just started his Masters Degree program and I went to work every day (with our older dog, Gracie) over at my parents house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_2248-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3811\" style=\"width:512px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_2248-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_2248-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_2248-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_2248-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_2248-750x1000.jpg 750w, https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_2248-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Sherlock got me through the worst years of my life. He was there when his sister died right at the beginning of Covid. He let me cry on the sofa with him when my mom started getting sick. The nights that I couldn\u2019t sleep because of anxiety he would follow me to the sofa or guest bedroom and make sure I was ok. He was my security blanket, co-work and confidant all wrapped into one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_2887-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3815\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_2887-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_2887-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_2887-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_2887-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_2887-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_2887-750x563.jpg 750w, https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_2887-500x375.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In March he got diagnosed with what was likely spleen cancer and we opted for pallative care instead of surgery. I know that he is in a better place and am thankful that his last day was not his worst one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"819\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/8D6616E3-0520-43D1-9E33-3C1468B34E2F-819x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3813\" style=\"width:573px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/8D6616E3-0520-43D1-9E33-3C1468B34E2F-819x1024.jpg 819w, https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/8D6616E3-0520-43D1-9E33-3C1468B34E2F-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/8D6616E3-0520-43D1-9E33-3C1468B34E2F-768x960.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/8D6616E3-0520-43D1-9E33-3C1468B34E2F-1229x1536.jpg 1229w, https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/8D6616E3-0520-43D1-9E33-3C1468B34E2F-1638x2048.jpg 1638w, https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/8D6616E3-0520-43D1-9E33-3C1468B34E2F-750x938.jpg 750w, https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/8D6616E3-0520-43D1-9E33-3C1468B34E2F-scaled.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 819px) 100vw, 819px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>For the most part I have been handling things ok. &nbsp;But, yesterday we got a condolence card in the mail from his vet office. We have had a relationship with some of the people who work there for 15+ years and reading the notes that some of them wrote got me in my feelings big time. Even though he hated going there and peed in the middle of the waiting room on his last visit in May, a lot of the vet techs were the people who knew him best. Last year when one of the vets took him in the back for bloodwork she said it was like a king had entered the room with the way people fell all over themselves to come give him love and say hello.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_8856-768x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3816\" style=\"width:491px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_8856-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_8856-225x300.jpeg 225w, https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_8856-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_8856-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_8856-750x1000.jpeg 750w, https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_8856-scaled.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The week before he died I made two recipes for this blog. I have not been able to bring myself to download the pictures (I even got my good camera out and made sure to frame the shots so Sherlock was in them). I am not sure if they will ever see the light of day, but, it is a nice memory of having him accompany me in the kitchen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cBut in the end journey&#8217;s brought joysThat outweigh the pain.&#8221; \u2013 Frank Turner, \u201cJourney of the Magi\u201d On Tuesday, June 24th we said goodbye to our dog Sherlock. He was the best boy. He was picky about who he accepted, but, once you were part of his inner circle he loved hard. We adopted him &#8230; <\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more-container\"><a title=\"The Best Boy\" class=\"read-more button\" href=\"https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/?p=3809#more-3809\" aria-label=\"Read more about The Best Boy\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3810,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":8,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,37],"tags":[39],"class_list":["post-3809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cooking-with-my-dead-mom","category-my-life","tag-life","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50","no-featured-image-padding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3809"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3817,"href":"https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3809\/revisions\/3817"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookingwithmydeadmom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}