| I don't really remember the first
time I met Bonnie, but then again, I think special people have a way of
sneaking into your life like that. You never see them coming.
Always with a smile on her face and a friendly greeting, seeing Bonnie
was often the highlight of my day. As a child, I often looked forward
to sleepovers with her. I didn't realize we had so many things in
common, and it was during those times that she shared her favorite things
with me. Her love of Stephen King novels is just one thing she shared
with me. To this day I can't see or hear his name without thinking
of her. And I still enjoy reading his books.
Some of the best times I remember
as a kid were with Bonnie at sleepovers and Girl Scout campouts.
I remember during our eighth grade year I was staying at her house and
we got up in the middle of the night for some snacks. She got some
of her Dad's beer (Old Milwaukee, no less!) out of the fridge and we sat
under the kitchen table drinking it, eating chips, and talking about boys
(Billy Lund and Steve Crew, as I recall). Bonnie gave me an earful
of what she thought of my current boyfriend. She always gave the best advice-
sort of like your Mom, and you never listen at the time! Only later
did I realize how intelligent she was. Not just in school, but she
knew a lot about life and people. She understood things then that
I didn't learn until college.
Bonnie was always a very honest person
and I appreciated the fact that she didn't hold anything back. Good
times and bad times, she never balked at the truth. I remember getting
beauty advice from her during our ninth grade year when she was the only
one not wearing make-up. Bonnie told me how beautiful I was without
all that "glop" on my face. At the time I didn't take her advice
seriously, but it made me feel good anyway. She seemed to always
have a way of making people feel good.
Writing about Bonnie has taken me
a long time, too long in fact. But last night I had a dream about
her, the first since a year after her death. In the dream we were
all there, every one of us, in her hospital room. I was the last
to arrive and I opened the door to see a room full of smiling, happy people,
talking like she wasn't lying there in bed dying from a brain tumor.
I thought it was so strange that everyone was so happy. Not able
to hold back my tears, I ran from the room crying. Bonnie somehow
found me and she told me that it was OK. She said that she wanted
us to all be together, to be happy, and remember the good times that we
have all had together. We went back to the room together but when
we got there it wasn't a hospital at all but our reunion and then Bonnie
disappeared. Then I woke up. In the dream I had been crying,
but I woke up feeling so good, so happy. Just getting to see her
again, even if it was a dream, made me feel like writing and sharing my
memories with you.
I loved Bonnie so much but I never
realized how much a part of my life she was until she was gone. She
was so sweet, smart, caring, and just such a wonderful person. I
think we should all feel lucky to have known her. I know I do. |