As Dali has gotten older and I'd been going off to work around Europe more, my Mom used to say to me regularly: "Oh, I wish I could take care of Dali for you." We both knew that she has her hands full with Dad, and Dali being under foot of a walker could never be good.
I originally hesitated going to St. Louis first for a number of reasons, one of which was that I knew having Dali and Sam in the house would be way too stressful for Mom and Dad. But now, the circumstances are a little different. Dali, Sam and I will be able to be home with Mom in the evenings.
I don't care what anyone says, these wonderful members of our family are very tuned in to us and others. I'll never forget watching Dali go over to Jean's Toby boy as he laid on our sofa the day before he died. She was so sweet and gentle with her friend. She walked around him, nuzzled him a little, and gave him a sweet kiss that turned out to be goodby. Having Dali and Sam with me after the storm held my sanity together. Dali spent a lot of her time licking tears from my eyes. When last summer was so hard for me, Lucie would let me hold her in my lap and she'd lick the tears away. And so as we head to St. Louis soon, I turned to Dali and said: "Well Dal, it looks like we're going to be going home to help Mom." I can already see the two of them. Dal will nuzzle her hand for a pet. She'll saddle up to Mom while she's sitting on the sofa and lick her hand. And I wouldn't be a bit surprised if pretty soon Mom's going to want to be feeding Dali and giving her her medications. They'll be taking care of each other. That's my Mom. That's my Dal. And I'll just enjoy watching them both do what they do best-love and take care of others.
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