Gem Helps Inspire Memories!

Written by her sister, Abbie

Gem and I Love to Cuddle! 

Abbie here!  Gem and I think we are pretty lucky!  Mom and Dad adopted me, CP’s “American”, in November, 2010, and then they adopted Gem (also CP Gem) the following April.  Gem is about two years older than me, but I was here first, so we have a very interesting sibling dynamic here at home - totally ruled by Love, of course, as you can see in one of Mom’s favorite pictures of us!

Anyway, we were all sitting around Mom’s piano the other day, listening to her make music, when I spotted a picture of Gem, all by herself, that I didn’t remember.

“Oh, that’s not Gem,” Mom explained.  “That’s Corkie…” and we could see it wasn’t really Gem, once we pressed our noses onto the glass and examined the picture frame very carefully.

This was Mom’s 1^st Cairn, Corkie, only 4 months old! 

Gem and I had heard this name “Corkie” before, like every time we go to see the vet.  We never really knew who they were talking about, however, except that whoever it was, she was very special.  When Gem and I looked back up at Mom, we could see a little smile on her face and a tiny drop of moisture in her eyes, just like at the vet’s, so we put our noses on Mom’s arm and let her know that we were ready to listen if she felt like talking.

It’s like magic, don’t you think?  How our Moms and Dads can read our little nose bumps so clearly?

Corkie, at 1 year old, looks a little like Gem, don’t you think?

Anyway, Mom started remembering and told us the most wonderful stories!   Corkie, you see, was her first Cairn, before me, and Mom thought she was a wonderful little dog.  Makes me wonder, if Corkie wasn’t such a great little dog, who knows if Gem and I would be here today?   Well, I am very happy she was so good!    I think I have been a bit more challenging at times, so thank you Corkie for teaching Mom what a wonderful breed we Cairns really are!

I flew in from Chicago, and Gem flew up from Florida, but Mom told us that Corkie flew all the way from Ireland when she was just 4 months old!  Imagine that!  She came from a place called County Cork, and that is how she got her name.

Corkie was a very well mannered little Cairn, Mom said, and one time she even went to work with Mom and sat quietly under her desk for several hours, and nobody even knew she was there!  Mom was usually teaching people how to play the piano, but at one time she also worked part time as a proof reader, whatever that is.

Anyway, on one day in particular, Mom and Dad were having the roof replaced on the house and the workers made so much noise, it frightened Corkie, who had lost a lot of her vision by that time.  Mom had to work, but couldn’t leave Corkie like that, so she took a little dog bed and brought Corkie with her.

When her work was done, Mom left with Corkie in her arms, and everyone was so surprised!  Her boss stopped her and asked about having a dog at work and Mom, thinking quickly, explained that Corkie was a Seeing Eye Dog!  I am not exactly sure why everyone thought that was pretty funny, but it made Mom smile to tell us this story, and that makes it a good story to Gem and me!

Corkie at 12 years old – Kind of looks like me!

Then Mom showed us another picture, and at first I thought it was Me, but it wasn’t me either!  It was Corkie, when she was a lot older than I am now!  This was hard to believe, but I know my Mom doesn’t say things that are not so!  Can you believe it?  Corkie started out looking sort-of like Gem but ended up looking sort-of like Me!

Cairns really can be amazing – in so many ways!

Gem and I are so lucky and very grateful!  Thank you, Corkie, for being such a wonderful and inspirational Cairn, and thank you, Mom and Dad, for deciding to go to Col. Potter Cairn Rescue Network when you really needed to smile again after Corkie.

O.K., Gem!  I really am feeling lucky!  Let’s go see if we can find some green balls to play with…