My father Arthur and Conkeydoodle’s father Jack were first cousins, so I guess that makes me and Conkey second cousins – or maybe first cousins once removed, we never could quite figure that out. But Conkey was 11 years my senior and had been my babysitter at times, and so actually she felt more like a big sister to me. Of course her name wasn’t really Conkeydoodle but Esther and we’d laugh over the fact that neither of us could remember how I gave her that nickname in the...