Bonnie

Right across the street from the care center Bonnie lives at was a K&W cafeteria. I hadn't been to one in 35 years. It was so funny because it hadn't changed a bit. Mediocrity and it's best!

The last few times I've met for lunch with my SLRMC nurse friends, someone has invariably asked, "Anyone heard from Bonnie." To which we all say no. Someone once said, "I heard she was in NC. I put that in the back of my brain and forgot it. On Monday, I was sitting on the couch at my Marjie's house, and I thought, hmm, I wonder if Bonnie is really in NC. I found her daughter's name on FB, found her email, and asked her where Bonnie was. Within a short time, she responded and told me Bonnie was in Burlington. I looked up the address; she was only 32 minutes away from my sisters and an hour away from Char and Art's new house in Creedmore.

Wed, Char picked us up, and we went off in pursuit of Bonnie. We found her at an assisted living facility. Bonnie's breast cancer has metastasized to her bones. She moved to NC because her daughter is here.

When Char, Jori, and I walked into her room, she was so shocked. Literally blown away. She kept asking, "How did you find me?" I said I don't really know; we just did. Someone told me you were in NC," Bonnie said, "I thought I was invisible; I felt like I had disappeared and no longer existed."

Today, Char, Jori Thomas, and I returned to Burlington to break her out of the facility for the day and feed her NC BBQ. When we took her home this afternoon, Bonnie stood tall and looked completely different. She smiled and said, "Look; I'm me again, not invisible." When I went to tell the nurse she was back, she said, "I saw her get out of the car, and I had to look again because I didn't recognize her because she was walking so tall.

This was part of our day out on the town with Bonnie.