Puppy Kisses & Chocolate Chip Cookies...

...are good for little girls.

This afternoon, Twinkle and I spent some time with Mr. & Mrs. Z. It was there that Mrs. Z practiced her own form of "therapy" for Twinks; puppy kisses and chocolate chip cookies.

Mr. & Mrs. Z are hands-down my favorite clients. They are a gentle, loving, intelligent couple who surely must be the definition for "aging gracefully". Mrs. Z has a razor-sharp wit, and a marked propensity for jokes that are just naughty enough to be... naughty. Mr. Z will tell you he is "fully retired", and one of his greatest joys is to sit on their wide front porch in the afternoon, with his beloved dogs at his feet, snoozing quietly in the sweet, cool shade. Their love for one another is still obvious, still sweet and tender. I hope with all of my heart that The Wrench and I are like them 30 or so years from now.

Mrs. Z called me this morning, frantic, because she thought her computer was going to "blow up!". Actually, the hard drive was dying in a rather noisy fashion; and since we were already in The City, I made a fast detour on the way back home to pick up a new drive. Our charming little suburb isn't exactly flush with the likes of CompUSA and Best Buy.

We arrived in the heat of the afternoon, and I headed straight for the computer; Mrs. Z commandeered Twinkle, and I figured that they were off to the kitchen for an afternoon snack. Mr. & Mrs. Z spoil Twinks terribly; their own grandchildren are (literally) thousands of miles away. Twinkle loves them right back; she says that they are her "extra" Grandparents, and she makes them birthday cards, and crafty little Christmas presents.

I managed to salvage all the data from the old, nearly dead hard drive and get the new drive installed fairly quickly. I started the restore CD that came with the computer, and stood up to stretch. I could hear the giggling all the way from the other side of the house, so I went to find out what the source of the hilarity is.

Puppy kisses and chocolate chip cookies.

I haven't seen Twinkle laugh like this in a month or more. Her beautiful green eyes were sparkling, and she was being covered in puppy kisses. The Z's newest puppy is (of course) adorable; to add to his charm, he periodically throws himself on his back with all four paws in the air so that his fat little belly can be rubbed. His little face is so sincere; big brown eyes, funny little fold-over ears, and a white stripe that starts at his nose, and goes all the way to the tip of his tail. Of course I didn't have my camera with me; who knew that I would have to be content with engraving these images on my heart?

The puppy is all wiggly energy; the little girl is all laughter and sunshine. The cookies are all warm and yummy.

The computer is all fixed.

I am all happy.