It's Hard To Have Happy Hour Without Your Best Friend

 Pixel, May 2009
WHEN YOU LOSE YOUR WINGMAN It's hard to have happy hour without your best friend.   I must apologize for not posting up new cocktail recipes in the last few weeks. These last few weeks have been difficult for me and, as a rule, I never drink if I'm sad, unhappy or down, I find that a dangerous road to go down. Drinking to make yourself feel better is, at best, a temporary solution and at worst, a step towards dependency. I don't go down that road.

For me having a cocktail is a fun, enjoyable experience, but lately I have not had my heart in happy hour.  Many of you are aware that I lost my little dog, Pixel, shortly after her 17th birthday last month. This loss has left me numb and not willing to face the practice of our evening cocktail ritual without her.  It may seem silly to some, this mourning over "just a pet", but for me her passing over the Rainbow Bridge was a great loss as she was my constant companion, my dearest friend and my happy hour "wingman". She was the "person" I  talked to after a good day, the friend who comforted me on bad days, the one who was there, no matter my mood, no matter my circumstance. At the end of the day there was a cocktail and there was Pixel to make things better.

Pixel, May 2009
Happy hour time was as much hers as it was mine, Pixel loved the moment when I shut down the computer, put down my brushes and headed to the bar. If I worked past the time she considered happy hour should be starting, I got a little paw on my leg and a little doggy grin to remind me to get that cocktail shaker out ... along with some snacks. At the end of our day, out we would go, into the living room or out on the deck, to wind down and have our special play time or just enjoy a sunset and the critters in the desert. Pixel truly loved watching all those critters. She also loved the cocktail snacks, the friends and neighbors, and their dogs who would stop by to share drinks with us. (Pixel was, most definitely, a true social animal.) I'm finding it very hard to have a happy hour without her, I find myself avoiding those moments when her absence is most acute and I am having difficulty gathering the joy I got from creating a new cocktail then enjoying it while Pixel paced the deck, sniffed the air and bounded back for a quick head rub ... and maybe a little bite of my cocktail snacks.

It seems a bit wrong to celebrate the end of the day without her, but I will because life goes on and because I love cocktails almost as much as I love Pixel. So, today, thanks to a little gift and push from Caffe Borghetti, I go out to gather some special ingredients to make a new cocktail for National Espresso Day this coming Monday. I give myself permission to celebrate life again and to toast to living that life to the fullest. Pixel would approve, her spirit with be with me and I will toast to her life and the 17 years of wonderful love and memories she gave me.  

Our last Happy Hour, October 15, 2015  RIP my little wingman.    
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