Our dear 95 year old friend

Every Sunday morning Candy and I visit a dear dear friend about 40 minutes away from home.  She’s like a mother, a grandmother, a big sister, a close girl friend. She too has had dogs her whole life. At the age of 93 she raised a puppy that was only a few weeks old. She couldn’t walk fast enough to get the door open for her little dog to run out to pee but she rigged the door with her cane so that when the puppy came over, the door slid open for him. She trained this little toy poodle herself. Taught it to sit, fetch. She lived an amazing life, she saw and lived through the Depression. She told us of stories of sadly how people jumping out of windows because of finances. She worked for the census bureau and went to places that a white woman should not go.  But she said the people were always friendly. She worked as a nurse. She told me she has seen every war our country has ever been through and yet tells me this is the worst one. She has lived in New York, Boston, Mississippi, Seattle, California. I always wanted to write a book about this dear friend, her life fascinated me. Candy and I would visit her in Arizona at least once a month. It was a great time. It wasn’t like going to your parents, though,  sometimes she chided us but all in fun. We drank together, we did our hair together, we laughed, we watched movies. She loved Cantonese duck. We would bring her some almost every visit. She told us our visits were like Christmas. I told Candy, never in my life time would I ever hear a human being say to me I bring her Christmas. How precious and touching is that.  We would do all the things you do with your girlfriend except she was in her 90s. Candy called her “Ma” everywhere we went.

One visit, we decided to bring Lucy to visit her and the new puppy. Lucy was still a baby too and she loved car rides. 5 hours from LA to AZ, Lucy was a trooper. When Lucy and Rascal (the puppy) met they ran around the house chasing each other till their tongues hung out from pure exhaustion. The toy poodle was jet black so all you see is this black furry thing. Candy even carted the dogs around with the walker.

When she at 95 , unable to walk and care for herself, her son moved her to the Los Angeles area so we all could be closer to her. The most amazing thing about her is that whenever I was down, sad, bothered by something, I could call and tell her about it. She ALWAYS had a positive attitude on everything. Even when she was in the hospital with a broken hip, she would ask us how are you girls doing? One thing I have learned in life is to surround yourself with loving and positive people, you derive so much energy from that. Even though she cannot reiki me, I can reiki her and she gives back SO much more. It has never been a chore to visit her or to see her. I don’t want to write about her when she is no longer here, she still to this day gives back to Candy and I. We always get something positive from her. She still makes us laugh everytime we see her. She still makes us feel good about ourselves. She still compliments our hair, and boy, is that a biggee! We love you Phyllis forever!