In this after-death communication, Dick becomes very aware that his dear deceased wife, Darla, is still looking out for him, when she brings him a new companion to take her place.

During his long career as a City Manager for Surprise, Arizona, Dick spent a lot of time traveling around the United States, and even other countries for his job, leaving his beautiful wife, Darla, behind at home. Even at social gatherings, it was Dick’s responsibility as City Manager to excuse himself from the table to move around, introduce himself to and network with new people. So Darla was really no stranger to having to share her husband’s time with a lot of other people.

Knowing he had to go, but still trying to have a sense of humor about it, every time Dick was headed out the door of their house, for yet another business trip, without fail, that red-headed Darla would always ask Dick her favorite question, “Are you taking LuLu with you?” This was a reference to a fictitious female companion that in some parallel universe, Dick might take along with him on his business venture. But although Dick was a dashing man, he was a good, honorable man who deeply loved his wife and they both knew that this teasing was only a harmless joke between them. Darla teased poor Dick about this for 20 plus years.

For Dick and Darla, through the ins and outs of their daily lives, forty-eight years of marriage went by in a hurry. Then it happened in September of 2011, when Darla passed from this world from heart complications, leaving Dick to be alone.

Darla and Dick had always liked dogs. Darla was more of a Poodle lover, while Dick was a Golden Retriever kind of guy. But Dick, being a push-over for Darla, allowed her to have her way and the Poodles won out. They were always around while Darla was alive. It wasn’t until a few years after Darla’s passing, that Dick began to research dogs and became keenly interested in a particular breed and decided to get one, mainly because of their intelligence.

Puppy Lulu

So after looking at them online for 6 to 8 months, in December of 2014, Dick finally found a breeder in Las Vegas who just happened to have this particular dog. It was definitely a cross between what both he and Darla liked. It was a Golden Doodle that Dick had become smitten with, a Golden Retriever and Poodle mix AND it just happened to be a red head… just like Darla!

Only armed with a number associated with claiming his new dog, Dick drove to Vegas to meet and pick up his new buddy. And wouldn’t you know? When he looked at his puppy’s papers, he was astonished to see that the breeder had already named her, LuLu!

Commentary- Like Mary Ann and Marian, Dick was another shipmate I fell in love with on my Senior Citizen European River cruise last summer. Remember? The average age on the boat was 78? Along with the others, Dick became instant family to me. Maybe it was his warmth and kindness, perhaps it was his dry wit, but for sure it was his brilliant white and silver head of hair, like that of an angel!

When I asked him at the dinner table, “Have you ever had an after-death communication?” Dick’s reply was, “Oh, I don’t think so.” Then thinking about it, he went on to say, “There was this one thing that happened…” and then recited the story I wrote in this post. “Well, Dick. That’s an after-death communication!” To that he said, “I just thought… well that’s funny. I guess Darla is keeping an eye on me.”

So many times, people don’t recognize an after-death communication, simply because they either don’t know what they are, the name for what they are… OR… that it’s even possible to have one! When people connect the amazing experience they have had with the “other worldly” phenomenon of an actual communication from their dead, it is usually only then that they realize the implications of spiritual gold they have struck! And… that their loved one is definitely NOT dead!

We know from the many after-death communications people have documented that there is no question of an afterlife. There is no question that our loved ones are still alive and well in another realm, very close to ours… and sometimes they find a way to reach us between worlds. The people who say this is not true are mostly the people who have never experienced this before. But it’s hard to remain a non-believer when it is staring you in the face. Some might say, “I think I’m imagining things” or worse… “I think I’m going crazy” (I hear this A LOT.) One is forced to believe in what can, at first, be hard to explain. But give it a few times and it’s basically, a no brainer!

The “other” lady

For all of Dick’s experience to happen, it took Darla some time to line up this arrangement. For one, Darla had to find a way to let Dick know that this was a gift from her, and in doing so, use her own familiar calling card. “Oh!” She must have thought, “How I’ve missed teasing Dick about that fictitious female companion! And, how he must miss me teasing him. Hmmm…”

And that’s how it happened.

Darla’s sense of humor shines through from beyond with the red-headed female dog she chooses as a real live companion for her beloved, Dick. She is conveying that, while she is not with him in the physical sense, she does send him a harmless red-headed proxy to be by his side and keep him company.

Knowing Dick’s love of dogs, Darla must have loved the idea! Now… it was only about directing Dick to want that specific breed, finding one close enough to consider traveling to for pick up, and convincing the breeder that this new puppy HAD to be named LuLu! Oh… and it had to be a girl!

Looks like an Angel

When I was asking Dick about her hair color, and if it was red in fact, just like Lulu’s, he chuckled, “Her hair was dark with signs of red in it. Mostly her coloring was a matter of “choice.” For 48 years I thought of her only as a beautiful red head.”

Since picking Lulu up that day, this Golden Doodle has been the apple of Dick’s eye. Since Dick is retired, he doesn’t do a whole lot of traveling for work these days, but now he has a constant companion who does nothing but love her master.

So now, as Dick awaits his journey back home to Darla, he has Lulu by his side… his very real, very red-headed and VERY spoiled companion, he tells me.

Now someone just try to tell me this was not the Darla’s doing!

Having fun on a cruise ship

Love that stands the test of time…