This is the poem I'd like you to post for Grandma. Everyone knows how much she loved her dogs, and it made me sad that she didn't get to spend any time with dogs during her last years. I'll never forget how she perked up and smiled when I showed her a picture of Gatsby the last time that I visited her in November. I hope this is what happened for her.

The Rainbow Bridge by Unknown Author
Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge. 
When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, 
That pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. 
There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends 
So they can run and play together. 
There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, 
And our 
friends are warm and comfortable. 

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor. 
Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, 
Just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. 
The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; 
They each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind. 

They all run and play together, but the day comes when
One suddenly stops and looks into the distance. 
His bright eyes are intent. His eager body quivers. 
Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, 
His legs carrying him faster and faster. 

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, 
You cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. 
The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, 
And you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, 
So long gone from your life but never absent from your heart. 

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together.... 

A mother held her new baby and very slowly rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And while she held him, she sang:

I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.

The baby grew. He grew and he grew and he grew. He grew until he was two years old, and he ran all around the house. He pulled all the books off the shelves. He pulled all the food out of the refrigerator and he took his mother's watch and flushed it down the toilet. Sometimes his mother would say, "this kid is driving me CRAZY!"

But at night time, when that two-year-old was quiet, she opened the door to his room, crawled across the floor, looked up over the side of his bed; and if he was really asleep she picked him up and rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. While she rocked him she sang:

I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.

The little boy grew. He grew and he grew and he grew. He grew until he was nine years old. And he never wanted to come in for dinner, he never wanted to take a bath, and when grandma visited he always said bad words. Sometimes his mother wanted to sell him to the zoo!

But at night time, when he was asleep, the mother quietly opened the door to his room, crawled across the floor and looked up over the side of the bed. If he was really asleep, she picked up that nine-year-old boy and rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And while she rocked him she sang:

I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.

The boy grew. He grew and he grew and he grew. He grew until he was a teenager. He had strange friends and he wore strange clothes and he listened to strange music. Sometimes the mother felt like she was in a zoo!

But at night time, when that teenager was asleep, the mother opened the door to his room, crawled across the floor and looked up over the side of the bed. If he was really asleep she picked up that great big boy and rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. While she rocked him she sang:

I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.

That teenager grew. He grew and he grew and he grew. He grew until he was a grown-up man. He left home and got a house across town. But sometimes on dark nights the mother got into her car and drove across town.  If all the lights in her son's house were out, she opened his bedroom window, crawled across the floor, and looked up over the side of his bed. If that great big man was really asleep she picked him up and rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And while she rocked him she sang:

I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.

Well, that mother, she got older. She got older and older and older. One day she called up her son and said, "You'd better come see me because I'm very old and sick." So her son came to see her. When he came in the door she tried to sing the song. She sang:

I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always...

But she couldn't finish because she was too old and sick. The son went to his mother. He picked her up and rocked her back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And he sang this song:

I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my Mommy you'll be.

When the son came home that night, he stood for a long time at the top of the stairs. Then he went into the room where his very new baby daughter was sleeping. He picked her up in his arms and very slowly rocked her back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And while he rocked her he sang:

I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.

I was maybe four when Mom bought nice, new white bedspreads with bright blue flowers all over them for the twin beds in my room.  Mom loved flowers, so I got a pair of scissors and cut bunches of flowers out of the bedspreads and  gave them to her.  I don’t remember if I got in trouble, but I do remember that Mom sat down and sewed all those flowers, by hand, back into those bedspreads.

On my first day of school in second grade, I wore brand new pair of shoes. I walked to school in those days and by the end of the day I had angry, raw blisters on both heels.  I miserably limped toward home. A couple blocks from our house I sat down on the curb and had myself a good cry. Before I knew it, Mom was there. I don’t remember what she said or did, all I know is that she was there for me when I needed her, and she made everything all better.

Mom made huge Easter baskets for us every year.  They were covered in colored cellophane tied with  satin ribbons, and they were filled with lots of chocolates and jelly beans. Easter is still my favorite holiday!

Birthdays meant Mom’s angel food cake.  She always let us split a whole cake between us, saying “it’s mostly air” and we smothered our pieces with lots of ice cream and fresh strawberries!

I had three best Christmases thanks to Mom. The first was when I was four or five. I begged for a pink plastic toy called “Penny the Poodle”. Mom said it was a stupid toy and told me she wouldn’t spend good money on such junk… but she did!  A couple years later I really wanted a “Fright Factory”, and once again, Mom came through.  The very best Christmas of all was when I was eleven, and Mom surprised me with a black velvet covered helmet and a riding crop. 

And there were all those lessons…  First, Mom took me to ballet lessons hoping it might make me a bit more graceful. When this proved to be hopeless, she let me switch over to tumbling.  Next, Mom took me to art lessons (because she thought I had talent… not so much!).  Eventually, Mom was able to engineer things so I could have the horseback riding lessons that really I longed for. Dad wasn’t keen about horses (he said he didn’t trust anything that ate while he slept (?!), but Mom talked him into it, and she never seemed to tire of the mind-numbing hours watching me going around in circles trying to learn how to sit a canter & post a trot.  Later, when a horse-owner neighbor had to move away and wasn’t able to take her horses, Mom told Dad that one would likely be put down if we didn’t adopt him, and so I got my first horse. My biggest dream had come true!

Once, when Mom was helping “muck” out the horse barn by pushing the wheelbarrow out to the manure pile, she slipped and fell headlong into the pile. I tried hard not to laugh, but Mom could see I was holding it back, and that made her laugh, Then we both just busted up laughing. Thanks to Mom, horses have remained a central part of my life to this very day. 

Yes, Mom really spoiled me: when I was in high school she let me paint the furniture in my bedroom bright orange, and when I was in college she agreed to have the walls in my bedroom (in her new house) painted purple.

During my freshman year at the University of New Hampshire, I came down with a bad case of strep throat. Mom and Dad were out of town, so I called them to say I was headed home.  When I got there, I crawled right into bed and feverishly passed out.  What seemed like a short time later, I opened my eyes only to find that Mom was there holding my hand.  She had talked Dad into turning around and coming right back home.

Mom was always game for any crazy adventure.  Following my junior year in college I took a summer job in Grand Teton National Park.  At the end of the season Mom flew out and we drove back across the country together.  My favorite memory of that trip was camping out in a tent alongside the Missouri River. The mosquitoes were thick and it was raining. We dumped Jell-O cheesecake mix in a water bottle, shook it up and drank it for dinner. We listened to the radio and Mom seemed to really enjoy herself, but we both got thoroughly sick of listening to one song that played over and over and over again: “…like walkin’ on broken gla-aa-ass…”

Another camping adventure worthy of mention was the time we (along with Dad) camped out of the back of my Datsun pick-up truck during a snowstorm at Pueblo Bonita in northwest New Mexico.

Have I mentioned Mom’s hats?  Mom loved hats: big brimmed sun hats, helmet type ski caps, big furry hats, you- name- it hats. I think the only hat I never saw Mom in was a ball cap.

Mom was a glutton for punishment. She unhesitatingly hopped into the front seat of an old Aeronca Champ while I was a very green pilot learning to fly tail-draggers from the back seat.

Her love for dogs is widely acknowledged.  Mom didn’t always remember the names of people she met, but she never forgot their dog’s name.  She loved elegant dogs, Irish Wolfhounds in particular.  When I moved to Alaska and wasn’t able to take my dog Caleb; Mom agreed to adopt him.  The only snag was that Caleb was a far cry from a Wolfhound.  He was in fact, just a mangy old Bluetick Hound, but Mom loved him nonetheless.

Mom had a good sense of humor and she really liked O.J.  A year or so after we eloped, O.J. told Mom the courthouse forgot to have us sign the marriage license, and since we were in the middle of a move, the  notification of this fact never caught up to us for the better part of a year.  Mom smiled and said “well now you have a second chance, so why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?”

Perhaps the thing I hold dearest in my heart about my Mom was how she always seemed sincerely interested in every utterly boring thing I wanted to talk about, and she always laughed and acted as though I was the funniest person she knew. 

When I think of Mom, I think of so many things… French toast and mimosas, walks on the beach, puppy dogs, bouquets of fresh-cut flowers, watercolor paintings, sterling silver, and candle-lit dinners every night of the week. Mom made everything extra special and I miss her with all my heart.