Miss Dottie (Lisa)

We have a friend in our lives who blessed us beyond belief. For over 20 years she provided nursing care for our daughter Claire but in a holistic way. Beyond providing complex medical care, she took her for walks, read books and teen magazines to her, cuddled with her, played games with her, talked to her, watched and gave commentary on movies and cartoons, positioned her in challenging pieces of back breaking (for her), leg aching (for Claire) equipment but partnered it up with fun activities. She thought of and cared for the whole of Claire but she did the same for us.

Dottie never entered the room in a splash or with any much fanfare. She melted into the scenery in a way that was the least intrusive in our home giving us as much privacy to function as a family as she possibly could. This was a tremendous gift because having Claire in our life meant a parade of helping loving people but nevertheless a parade of them in our house every week of every year for two decades. We sometimes felt like we lived in an office building or apartment building, where everyone at the end of their visit went home to their unit while we remained camped out in the lobby. Dottie was always aware of the family. Everything she did was in support of us just being a family.

She had incredible medical knowledge and performed medical techniques on Claire with great precision. We always called her our doctor-nurse. She knew everything but never came across as a know-it-all. How’d she do that? She caught things before anyone else, tiny differences in her breathing that I am sure, at times, saved her life. Dottie was our first and last nurse and was, in a large part, the reason our daughter lived so long.

So, we found it disconcerting that we could never find a picture of Miss Dottie with Claire. We should have found a billion but all we found was one, not so good, dark and fuzzy picture to gift to her, until today. I came across this picture and, you guessed it, it’s Dottie. Her hands are guiding Claire’s, helping her to work and play in the water she loved so much. They were washing carrots and potatoes with Claire’s friend Whitney to chop and slice for an Our Daily Bread casserole.

It feels like a holy picture of two holy people doing a simple, yet holy act of love. It feels holy because it is. Dottie is a humble friend who, like St. Joseph did the hard and important work of supporting this family behind the scenes and we are forever grateful.

Thank you, our dear friend. Forever thank you!

Loving you always,

Lisa, Pat and Claire