A few minutes before noon, I'd just arrived at the residence from an early morning main office meeting. When I opened the door she was standing right there virtually blocking the entrance. I guess it was schoolgirl theme day. Her dress was a knee-length yellow, black and blue accented plaid. The shirt, white with a yellow crossover tie worn underneath a dark blue blazer that had a large crest sewn over its left side pocket. For footwear there was a pair of bead bespeckled white ankle socks worn inside black and white saddle shoes. In both hands, she clutched bulging pillow case-sized cloth bags that hung down nearly touching the floor. A third full brown paper bag was additionally tucked underneath her left arm. Immediately she gave me a slight but perceptibly slowed twin blink that opened to a full second of what I can only describe as a riveting set of smiling eyes. It was a private greeting she reserved for me and one of the many spells cast that had me loving her as deeply as I did.

"The Workshop called. Victor's got Darlene on a rampage. I'm headed over there now. (Victor being a frequently hallucinated tormentor of Darlene's.) Addy needs a gynecological. Brady wants you to call him as soon as you can. There are a few other messages for you by the phone and Frita can't do the overnight tomorrow so call Gail, she asked for fill-ins. Supper's in the crockpot. Turn it on at one-thirty. Do not forget, one-thirty. Turn it on. I taped red paper to it. You're dead if you don't turn it on. I should be back by two, two-thirty latest. I'll pick up Boyd's meds on the way. The pharmacy said they're ready. Oh, and the hall toilette ain't flushing." So said, she pushed past with an energetic bow wave that forced my back against the wall. In the process, she extended a finger and poked into my groin.

"And you, I have plans for you later."

Then she was off. Bags flung into the car, she zoomed down the drive and screeched into traffic, hurtling along out of sight. All of this happening two hours before she was even scheduled to be working.

Professionally I couldn't have asked for a better partner. Knowledgeable, reliable, thorough, conscientious and compartmentalized. Client's, families, staff and neighbors all reveled in her contagious enthusiasm which infected just about anyone she engaged. She had charm in quantities sufficient to have one thinking doing laundry was instead a spontaneous party. Once a visitor so impressed with her radiant energy asked if she had swallowed the sun. Even at times when her own personal hardships might be weighing on her heavily, she had the capability to inflate compensating strategies that were almost always more than buoyant enough to keep matters afloat. In title, she was assistant to my managerial role, but in actuality, she was as, or even more, integral to the function of our clinically geared operation. On top of it all, she had a passion for cooking and insisted on assuming the shopping, meal planning and meal preparation for the residence. Not only did she go to bed reading cookbooks but supplementary organic chemistry texts as well, a practice recruited to maximize flavorful combinations. Talk about attention to detail. The cuisine creations, as you might suspect, were absolutely to die for.