Just one year ago today, we
celebrated our friend Dale's birthday in her hospital room in New York
City. Disappointed that she was unable
to be at home for her birthday, she rallied through the many phone calls from
friends who brightened her day with their birthday wishes.
She was, our dear Dale, a birthday
girl in more ways than one. Her famous
"little red book" helped her keep tabs on the birthdays of her many
friends. She was often the first or
second call that came on one's birthday, her throaty Southern accent lilting
through the receiver, enveloping the celebrant with her warmth and humor like a
hug.
Though she left this life less than
a week after her 2012 birthday, she remains with those who knew and loved her
in a thousand memories. This being a Sunday, we're reminded how often she would
call on Sunday mornings to check in with us with her signature opening of
"Darling, it's Dale" in that unmistakable voice.
As we watch Jeopardy almost every night, we think about how much she loved it
and how she and her friend Brenda would dish about the contestants after each
show. In the many years before her last
illness, she would tape the show and watch it after an evening at the
theatre. In that difficult year when she
battled illness mostly in the hospital, she watched the live telecasts and
Brenda's call would come just after the show ended.
So many times over this past year,
I've found myself wanting to share something with her that I knew would make
her laugh. How I miss that laugh. At other times, I've wanted to know if she
saw a movie that we'd seen and what she made of it. Ever ready with her opinions, she was such
fun in those conversations.
As we follow the photographs of her
beloved nephew and grand-nieces via Facebook, we think of how much she loved
them and how proud she would be of their lives.
She loved them and loved planning their next visit to New York or her
next visit South to be with them.
When her time with us ended, so many
spoke of the investment she had made in their lives and their careers. Several commented that she was one of so many
people's few best friends. She had that
capacity for love and a boundless curiosity for what lay within those she loved
and what they might show the world. She
took pride in the accomplishments of relatives, friends and clients.
What we remember viscerally and with
joy is that encompassing interest she took in those of us lucky enough to be in
her circle of life. Her very presence seemed
to create more oxygen, breathing energy and laughter into us. She cajoled, encouraged and demanded that we
embrace life, even as she embraced us.
So we remember you, dear birthday
girl, dear Dale. Even as we miss your
physical presence, we continue to bask in the glow that you brought to our
lives.
