I feel it necessary to write this in memory of Frenchies Darcy & Paris, my girls. Darcy really was a special girl in my life. She came to me when I lived in Oregon. What a cute little lady she was and willing to please her momma. Potty training was a cinch for her and was accomplished within a few days as she loved praise but disdained being talked to with disappointment. In fact, when I did so she would move her mouth like she was talking back at me but with no noise. It felt like she was my little human baby. I wish I had access to pics but I just can’t seem to find baby Darcy pictures.
I fell in love with Paris the moment I saw her. She was the smallest one in the litter and a little pudge. A football is what she resembled. Her tongue was always sticking out and I’d say her tongue is longer than her body. Now Paris was the opposite in potty training. She was at least 8 months before being fully potty trained. I discovered that she was scared of the dark and we’d be outside for hours after the sun went down trying to pee. I can see her now. Little pudge ball with her hair staniding up on her back with her front little paw lifted and tucked under while making her best little growl bark at the slightest noise (see pic below). When I say slightest it could be the wind blowing the glass. I almost gave up on her. She must have known because all of a sudden she was potty trained. There’s little baby dressed up like a purple monkey for halloween with Darcy as a witch. I still have that witch costume and many more Frenchies have also been lucky enough to wear it.
They went everywhere with me and went through a decade of life that I really didn’t understand where I was going. I went through a divorce at 26 and lived on my own for the first time with my Frenchie girls. I couldn’t imagine living life without them. We’d curl up on the bed and watch out little 15 inch TV and sit and drink wine on the front porch. Everyone loved them that came to visit. I’d dress them up regularly in a time when dressing your dog wasn’t really a thing.
These two were my little loves and provided so much love. I needed them more than they needed me. I was working on my undergrad degree in cell & molecular biology. They were my study buddies. I wasn’t one to have a lot of friends. They were my best friends. They each had a few litters and helped me pay for my undergrad. I loved them!
After graduating, I decided to go through a yoga certification course. I’d never done yoga before but went for it. It was there I learned so much about love from the works of Eknath Easwaran. He said, “Love is in the give and take of everyday relationships.” It’s nothing grandiose and it prepared me for my future. That’s when I met my now husband, DeMarco. After I moved in, I brought Paris to live as I knew he’d have to be warmed up to them. He of course fell in love with Paris. I then brought Darcy over and he eventually fell in love with her too.
They made quite the dynamic duo. Paris was a little lady and Darcy was a tomboy. They enjoyed being the only children and lived quite a pampered life. Our first Valentine’s Day, DeMarco gave me a two stuffed dogs connected by their paws and a heart. One was cream like Paris and the other fawn like Darcy. This was quite the correct representation of them as they’d always sit butt to butt facing opposite directions.
They again became my study buddies as I entered pharmacy school. Midway through we bought a house and moved to Colorado Springs when I was about 6 months pregnant with our son Tytan. They were both there for me through my first experience of motherhood and sat around protecting their little guy. Both were there when little Trenton was born as well. I remember studying for my pharmacy boards watching the Olympics with all four of them spread around me on the floor.
We went on a mini staycation. It was literally the first time we’d been away. Darcy passed. I felt like a bit of my soul was taken that day. Paris was now the loan girl and I could tell she didn’t know what to do with herself. Romeo came to join us a several months later. He’s actually quite a bit like Darcy. In fact, they come from the same lines. We moved to our next house where Paris and Romeo definitely made themselves at home. Jewels joined us there. It was a corner lot and everyone enjoyed stopping to pet the Frenchie clan as they walked by. Maddie joined us as well. Paris did a great job dealing with all of the young pup energy as an old girl. Oh, and she loved food.
This was around the time Paris’ health declined. We could see her getting weaker. A few days before she passed I dropped some chicken on the ground. She dove to get it and won. I think I held onto hope that she would swing back to her normal self if she could dive for chicken. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case and she went on to doggie heaven in her sleep a few nights later. We moved again and they are buried together in our backyard. I plan on planting a tree in their honor.
Thank you Darcy and Paris, my girls, for being there for me through so many changes of life. You gave me love without me even asking for it and you don’t know how much of an impact you had. Forever my girls in my heart.
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Read more about my other Frenchie friends!
