I love you once, I love you twice, I love you chicken soup with rice

Izzy and the great beyond.

Izzy the Italian Greyhound, photographed circa 2019 at her home by me, her most frequent photographer and ardent admirer.

I have had fond memories of Chicken Soup with Rice by Maurice Sendak ever since I was little. I mean, who doesn’t love a poetry book about comfort food?

I’ve been saying the phrase, “I love you once, I love you twice, I love you chicken soup with rice,” thinking I had lifted it from that book all those years ago.

I thought it was so sweet that the mother’s character loved the kid so much, she made him chicken soup with rice as the ultimate display of her affection.

Turns out I had bastardized the book’s refrain, and nowhere in that book does it say that exact phrase.

What a thing to discover almost 40 years later. Especially after saying it repeatedly to my own kid and dog repeatedly over the decades.

My favorite thing to make when I’m feeling down is Chicken Soup with Rice. Most of the time I make it using “riced” cauliflower so it’s low carb.

But a week ago Friday, I made it with real rice. It was not the time for cauliflower. It was the time for carbs.

We said goodbye to our sweet, ol’ baby Izzy. It was a long time coming and also all of a sudden. In death, I’ve come to learn, both can be true.

I am profoundly sad. I have too many thoughts. I can’t even begin to process how brutal this whole experience is, and this isn’t my first brush with loss.

It just hits hard.

Izzy was the light and heart of our home. As of right now, I’m not sure how we are going to move forward, but I know that we will. My mom, who I hope welcomed Izzy at the other side of the rainbow bridge, told me years ago on the topic of death that “time is your only ally.”

I will be back later in the week with a yummy recipe for something, I promise.

In the meantime, hug your humans and kiss your fur babies.

XO