Dakota, may your mother rest in peace and her spirit be with you with love and comfort. Thank you for writing about her passing and your presence. My mother died in 2001, also at 97, and I was there too. I wrote about it here:
http://www.nataliedarbeloff.com/aboutfeelings.html

Dear Dakota,
I cannot think of any words deep enough to talk about your mother's passing. I hold you in a white light, and I also hold you in the very highest esteem for your ability to love against many odds, for your tenderness toward your mother, for your multi-layered complexity as a person, an artist, and a friend. How fortunate are all of us who have been touched by you. I am so glad that you could be there as your mother's life ended, and that you were able to appreciate being there. Now the next phase of the journey begins. I know from my own experience that the relationship to one's parents continues to evolve and transform even years after they have physically left this earth. Much love, Mrs. W

Dear Natalie -

You have returned from Egypt! Welcome back.

Thank you for your kind wishes. Your experience with your mother's death seems so much more painful than mine, given her prolonged process, and the unambivalent love in your relationship. I found myself feeling grateful for my mother's efficiency in dying (even though Maria was not impressed). I am so sorry that A and the nurse didn't awaken you for "the moment". I have often heard that those who are dying wait to depart until the people they care for most leave the room.

I suspect that I was assisted by angels at the Manor, so that I could be present. I will always be grateful to them. D

Dear Mrs. Weggie-

Thank you so much for your call this morning, and your lovely comment.

I am still chuckling about your story of tenderly telling your failing father, on his ostensible deathbed, what a good father he'd been, and giving him permission to depart, only to have him awaken and respond irately to your suggestion. Ah, the fierce attachment.

I will be curious about the ways in which my relationship with my mother will evolve as her spirit moves out of this physical realm. D

Dear Dakota, as always I am deeply touched by your words, and I feel for your experience...as always you are magnificent, the loss is deep but the awarness that now she is next to you every moment, with the most perfect love, is consoling
and conforting....when I felt my mother at that level I was exhilarated with joy and fullness... death does not separate us, it is cementing who we are...pure energy...All my love to you Ari

Dear Ari-

Oh I do hope you are right. My mother has been next to me every moment in the form of the introjects I created, many of them unkind. I am looking forward to feeling a little pure energy in perfect love. I remain in a state of eager anticipation. Love D

Thanks my dear Dako.

And your Theme & Variations on the Dubya inauguration are wonderful to behold. Glad you participate in the Not One Damn Dime initiative.

Come and see the start of my Egypt travel journal.

Natalie, your Egypt is wonderful! I hope everyone who visits here will also find their way to your beautiful zany visual world. D