Today. Lost an important person in my life. My mom's best friend and a good friend of mine. Not going to remember her as the way she died but how she was before becoming ill, with dementia. She was born the same year as Mom, they went to school together and became partners in crime. The stories those two told. Dottie was sweet on my father, flirting and goofing off with him all the times i remember. Today is his birthday, he's been up there in heaven with other friends and family and now that Dottie has joined him, thinking they are going to be in time out a lot. When Mom and Dottie were together, passing time over coffee and lots of BS as good friends do. Always with a quirky smile and a joke or two. There were lots of laughs. When i moved to Florida in 1994, Dottie was always asking how i was doing and every now and then i would drop her a note or card to tell her hello. Coming home for visits, had to visit her. It was a must. When i moved back home after my father became ill himself, Dottie would always be around for my Mom. It's what good friends do. I was back and forth from different places, and she was always asking my Mom how i was?! When Chris and i moved to NY in 2006, that year losing my grandmother. I started helping my Mom help out with Dottie, taking her to doctors appointments when her eyesight was starting to fail, afterwards we would go out and have lunch somewhere like Steve's Place or The Peppermill. Those are times i like to remember. I would go to her house, help clean and she would toss me a few $$. She was always outside on her front porch sitting in her chair sunning. She had nice tanned legs and arms. Chris and I moved to Florida in 2012, it was me now asking Mom, How's Dottie? Her eyesight failing and health too and how much of a mess she's becoming without intentions to do so. Each time hearing something new and more scary. Each time just remembering how she was. Each time i called always asking How's Dottie? Each time the answer was something different. Getting worse in health, her kids have gotten her into a rehabilitation center, an assisted living rest home in Albany, a stretch to drive for people living north of. It can some times take an hour depending on traffic and road construction. There in Albany, when we visited in December, she was. Not the lady i have known for all my 50 years. Not knowing who she was at times or asking for people who have been gone for many years. Looking different than when i saw her in April the prior year. Looking like someone new. A stranger and she was probably feeling like one in her own mind. The last day that i saw her, getting ready to leave, my Mom asked Dottie who i was, she said, Katrina. Always loved joking with her, and replied to her, a face you can't forget. How diseases such as Dementia and Alzheimer's work in a person's body. How it takes control over everything, leaving you rendered helpless as it progresses. Chris lost her grandmother last March to Alzheimer's, and i lost an Aunt to it several years ago. How it takes those full of life and uses their brains and bodies against them and to watch them while not being able to do anything for them as they slowly slip away. I have been receiving gifts from the spirit world of those who have passed away in form of butterflies. They don't come out too often here in Orlando when its chilly. But on warm days they are out and about dancing free. Each time I lose a friend or family, a new one appears. I will look for you. When i do, i will ask, How's Dottie? Rest In Peace, my friend.