She woke up later and looked down in astonishment. But she quickly figured out who that dog was, and it was a great comfort to her to have him at her side. T hird, Nikki never gave up on pursuing her dreams. For the past year, her life had been enhanced by the addition of true love. When Michael Hejl came into the picture, Nikki's health, her attitude, her appreciation of people in general, her spirit of adventure, all grew better.
Love has the greatest power to improve a life.
And Nikki dreamed of marrying Michael. She wanted to be married next spring, but as her condition grew worse in recent weeks, we began to encourage her to think about this fall instead. But as it turned out, even that wasn't soon enough. Fortunately, during the periods when she was conscious during the final day, she was cognizant of everything going on around her, and she could carry on rational conversations. Because of various technicalities, it couldn't be a legal marriage, but in the eyes of all present, it was real enough for us.