RAPID CITY, S.D. — When dementia began stealing pieces of Bonnie, her family clung to the few things that still made her smile.
She had always loved opening cards. Even as words became harder to find and names slipped away, Bonnie’s hands would light up when she held one. She would open it, look at the pictures, and quietly slip it into her purse. It didn’t matter how many she already had. Each one was precious.
So when her church, Knollwood UMC, learned that Bonnie wasn’t feeling well, they came together in the simplest way. They sent cards. Dozens of them.
They didn’t know how far along her dementia had progressed. They didn’t know if she would remember their names. But they sent them anyway.
Some played music. Some popped open with pictures. Some were just folded pieces of paper with a few kind words scribbled inside.
Darsha, her daughter, sat beside her and read each one aloud.
There wasn’t much reaction. Bonnie didn’t always respond. But there was one pop-up card she loved. She opened that one again and again, holding it with quiet joy. She didn’t say much. She didn’t need to.
“She would open the cards and put them in her purse,” Darsha said. “She loved them.”
Her husband sat with her, too. The cards didn’t just comfort Bonnie. They helped him feel a little less alone as he watched the woman he loved fade.
Not long after, Bonnie passed away.
Her final days weren’t filled with miracles or cures. They were filled with cards.
And maybe that is the lesson. That you don’t have to fix everything. You don’t have to say the perfect thing or know what someone is going through. Sometimes, you just show up. You send the card. You write the note. You take five minutes to remind someone they matter.
You never know which simple act will become someone’s most treasured memory. For Bonnie, it was a card. For her family, it was knowing she left this world surrounded by love.
No one remembers what those cards cost. But they’ll never forget what they gave.
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