TULLIO

The joy in my life for the past 12 years has been my best buddy and dog, Tullio, a tricolor Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Tullio passed away from heart failure July 10 in Southern California, where my sister Lisa has been meticulously, lovingly and indulgently taking care of him for the past year. He was too sick to travel with me any longer, and he loved my sister, my sister's dog Tessa, their yard, Southern California weather and its effects on arthritic joints, having a dog cardiologist nearby with the latest therapies to make him feel good and eating canned dog food, since he was in one place and it no longer mattered what kind of diet he ate. I could go on, but you get the picture. He had a swift decline and was not in pain when he finally chose his hour. He drifted off in the early morning hours after a night being watched by doctors. I have never known a more prudent, caring and sensitive animal in my life; he even knew when to choose his own exit. He was the one of the best 'people' I have ever had the honor to know. I think I have learned more forgiveness, acceptance and patience from Tullio in the past 12 years than most people learn in a lifetime.

Tullio was born in England, but I 'adopted' him in Paris while I was supposed to be singing Giulietta in I Capuleti e I Montecchi in 1995. This was the first of many strikes, and the technicians at the Bastille, after our outstanding dress rehearsal, decided to strike every day we had a show. So I decided to finally fulfill a dream I had had since I was a child - have my own puppy. I had spent hours going through our old Encyclopedia Brittanica as a child, looking at the different dog breeds, fantasizing about what kind of puppy I would get, if Mom would ever let me. Our full-grown poodle, Lolly, ignored all my attempts to train her and preferred my dad to anyone else. So finally, on my own and fed up with the strikes, I went to the one place you're not supposed to buy a dog - a pet store. I looked at two puppies who were cage-mates - a Papillon and a Cavalier: the Papillon was darling, but made squeaky noises all the time. The Cavalier immediately walked around to meet everyone. I was in love.

I was seeing an Italian at the time named Massimiliano, and our best friend was named Tullio. As I figured I might never have children, I named the dog after our best friend. It was perfect - everyone adored our friend Tullio; now everyone adored this puppy. We spent a lot of time in Turin with Massimiliano's parents when Tullio was little, so I tended to speak to Tullio in Italian.

He loved people and was self-designated greeter at every place we have inhabited. He was a better traveller than me (no jet-lag when you sleep 80% of your life, anyway!) and was ALWAYS happy, despite the slightly doggone look this breed has by nature. He did't sing, but he danced, rolled over, shook hands, gave high-fives, jumped over obstacles and was a fabulous companion!!

He travelled more than most humans have the opportunity. He had visited or lived in the following places: Paris, Bordeaux, Nice, Toulouse, Montpellier in France; Rome, Milan, Florence, Martina Franca, Bari, Catania, the Lakes Region, Bologna in Italy; Geneva, Lausanne and Zurich in Switzerland; Bilbao in Spain; the Algaerve in Portugal; Stockholm, Sweden; London, England; Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, The Dead Sea, Masada, Haifa, and Cesaria in Israel; Santiago, Puerto Montt and Ancud in Chile; Brussels, Antwerp, Mechelen, Ghent, the seaside and Bruges in Belgium; and Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Washington DC, Seattle, San Francisco, Niagara Falls, Atlanta, New York, Cleveland and San Antonio in the U.S. That's one well-travelled dog.

He was the light of my life and will be sorely missed.