More about Patti 2

For the next ten years we ran Bedrock Music together. We worked together, three or four days a week, and on our off time we spent in the hills walking our beloved dogs. I believe, that Patti loved dogs more than people with the exception of me. Even if that isn't totally true, I know she loved and trusted me completely as I did her. In fact I told her more about myself than I have ever revealed to anyone and I think she did the same. Her mom told me how Patti as a child could not stand to see an animal hurt in any way. She used to carry dead birds home and bury them in her back yard. We once went to see the documentary "The Parrots of Telegraph Hill" There are a flock of wild parrots that live in San Francisco and this was a documentary about a man who cared for them. There was a scene of a hawk, swooping down, to capture and kill one. I looked over at Patti who had dissolved into tears. That was the kind of heart she had about animals. I do not, however, want to give you the wrong impression about her, she was also the strongest woman, and the most psychologically healthy woman I have ever known. She had the ability to both cut through the bullshit to get to the heart of the matter and then offer her deep compassionate heart to help. She could be tough when she had to be and to get through four surgeries and three rounds of chemotherapy with no complaining showed how strong she could be. She handled everything with a grace unknown to most. She shaped my life in ways she could not have known and touched my heart and soul just as deeply. When I used to go over to be with her when she was terminally ill, she would say, "Everyone will do fine without me, but I am the most worried about you. It is as though we have shared a soul this lifetime and it is being torn in two." She could not have been more correct. She died reaching out to me and I washed her body and waited until they came to take her. Three days later I went with her body to be cremated. I just didn't want her to be alone. She would have done the same for me. She was more than a blessing to me, she was my other half. Our edges joined up perfectly. Its been almost three years since she died, but not a day goes by where I am not reminded of her in some wonderful way. Everyone should be as lucky!