Reminiscing One Year Ago

Wow, I can't believe one year has gone by since Bonnie's accident.  Yesterday it was a year exactly.  If you want to read about what happened, you can go to the Bonnie's Accident webpage.

I remember a year ago, I was so afraid that one of my best friends would die.  I do not cope well with death.  Over the next several days, I would look forward to ANY updates about Bonnie.  It was a horrible day the day I found out that Bonnie had no brain activity.  Everything kind of happened in a surreal way.  I went from sobbing one moment, to numbing myself the next.  The idea of not hearing Bonnie talk to me or laugh was heart wrenching.  I knew that I would see her in the next life, but that didn't help my mortal self.  Larry was given the option from the doctor to give Bonnie some dignity and pull the plug so she could move on to the next life.

I don't care who you are, the decision to pull the plug is one of the most difficult choices to make.  So when I heard that Larry had a very spiritual experience and then opted not to pull the plug, I was overjoyed.  Not because I wanted to see her suffer longer, but because I knew Larry made the right choice.  Through miraculous intervention, Bonnie soon regained some brain waves.  The doctors were amazed but still weren't sure what to make of it because Bonnie was still in a coma and weren't sure of the depths of her brain damage.  After scans, they found that Bonnie suffered from shearing.  I still don't quite understand what that means.

I don't remember how long she was in her coma, but it was about 5-6 weeks.  Those were some long weeks.  It was hard not knowing what state she would be in when she woke.  The webpage I put a link to in the first paragraph, has a much more detailed account of everything.

After many prayers, fasting, and inspired doctors, she has gone from a possible vegetable (or as Bonnie now so lovingly puts it: "A tard starting at the wall drooling") to a walking (with some help) and talking person!  She has most of the same personality traits as before and the SAME Bonnie sense of humor.  I think that is what makes me the happiest.  In fact, yesterday for our ward's Halloween trunk-or-treating, she dressed up and titled her costume, "I got hit by a car."  Which was perfect because it was her year anniversary since being hit.  Even before the accident, she had such a warped sense of humor. I am so glad she still has the same sick sense of humor!!

 This is Bonnie all dressed up for Halloween! ☺ I told you she has a sick sense of humor - and I LOVE it!

She had to relearn to talk, walk, read, and write again.  Bonnie is relearning how to do a lot of things that were her talents before the accident.  She can paint and we all "oooo" and "ahhh" over her creations but she insists we are being too nice and they aren't that good.  Well, let me tell all of you, the things she has painted since the accident are REALLY well done!  I don't think she gives herself enough credit.

Throughout all the trials she has gone through, she is nothing short of amazing.  She has inspired me to be a better person.  She looks at the positives of that night.  She was struck by the vehicle on her right side and hit her head on the left side.  So the whole right side of her body is still struggling to keep up with the left.  However, she counts her blessing that she is left handed.  Having to relearn everything AND on a the non-dominant side would have been more difficult.

She still struggles with memory loss; which can make for some really funny conversations.  Every time she speaks though, I am reminded of what a miracle it is that she is alive.  I am beyond words of gratitude to our Lord and Savior for answering our prayers and helping to heal one of my bestest ever friends.  I love you, Bonnie!!! Forever and ever.

July is Almost Over

It is crazy that July is almost over!!  This month has FLOWN by.  Between preparing for camp, attending camp, celebrating Bill's 40th birthday, going on the road with Bill, reorganizing my house (still in the process), trying to squeeze workouts in at least 3 times a week, and the Tupperware party last night, the whole month is gone.  The cool thing is that tomorrow is Sarah's baptism (my cousin's daughter) so the end of the month is ending with awesomeness! 

Today I am babysitting an adorable little baby named Lyla.  She is 7 weeks old and so itty bitty!  She seriously looks like she could be one of my own babies! 

In a few minutes, Rebekah's best friend (Alison) is picking her up to take her on the ward camp out.  I am bummed I can't make it but glad they offered to take Rebekah.  The reason we can't go is because I won't be home in time to be ready for Sarah's baptism.  So instead of camping tonight, the rest of us are going over to the Gerber's house and having breakfast for dinner.  Soooo excited! I am making buttermilk syrup and coconut syrup.  Plus french toast, bacon, and maybe some eggs.  Bonnie is making waffles. Yum!

Once again, my heart it filled with gratitude for the Lord's hand in preserving Bonnie's life.  She is one of my best friends.  Yay for Priesthood Blessings, faith, and prayers!

Hmmmm....

I realize I haven't really posted much lately.  I have been insanely busy but want to try to keep up on the things going on in my life.  I have been trying to clean out the game room so I can paint the room for Bill.  We are turning it into Bill's music room.  Plus I am having a Tupperware party at my house tomorrow so I am trying to clean up everything.


Last night the girls stayed over at the Gerber's house and tonight the Gerber girls are staying the night over here.  I am so grateful that Bonnie and Larry moved back to Cedar.  Our girls really missed each other.  Bonnie is such a miracle; she is one of my dearest friends.


I should be going to bed right now but instead my inner child is throwing a temper tantrum and wants to stay up.  I think I am going to attempt to update daily on here, even if it is just a blurb.  I won't beat myself up if that doesn't work, but I will try to at least once a week try. :)

Achievement Days - Etiquette Night

I am putting this here so Bonnie can see it. :-)

For Achievement Days, Danielle and I did an Etiquette Night. We had Lana come to talk to the girls about manners, how to behave at others' houses, how to take care of themselves, etc.

For dinner, we served Broccoli Cheese soup, rolls, lemonade, and for dessert we served Boston Cream Pie.

The girls in line to serve themselves.

More in line.

She was so sad because the foster baby that was in her family left that day.

Some of the girls enjoying their food.

Pouring juice :-)

Right now they are listening to Lana talk and asking questions.

This was the first Achievement Days for the girl on the left. Her family lives in the old Cox home.

We really missed you, Bonnie. We gave out CDs of "The Articles of Faith" to the girls. Also, in January, we have the BEAR activity. I don't know if you and Danielle talked about that one. The BEAR stands for Be Excited About Reading. The second activity is going to be one about self hygiene. We went over that a little bit at etiquette night but will go more in depth. We are going to do Satin Hands, paint nails, give them soap, etc. It is going to be so much fun!!

We really miss you, Bonnie!!!

More Thoughts About Bonnie

I love reading the updates about Bonnie because each day I worry about her and wonder how she is doing. Each time I read about her, I am so happy to see that she is miraculously getting better with each passing day.

I have thought of some more thing that make me think of her.

The other day I was making taco soup and thought of the time where she surprised me with a huge batch of her taco soup for dinner. It was so unexpected and I was so grateful. She is a very generous person.

When I drive into Wal-Mart, I giggle when I drive in front of the store and have to wait for people entering in and going out. She always drove around the other end of the parking lot to bypass all that.

When I use the Herbal Essence Split End stuff, I think about Bonnie because when I was shopping at Wal-Mart and bumped into Bonnie and told her all about how that stuff works wonders in Rebekah's hair - whose hair is hard to brush and Bonnie said that she has a hard time with Makayla's hair. So she went and bought it. I don't know if she ended up liking the stuff as much as I do, but every time I use it on my girls' hair, I think of Bonnie.

When I play the Wii I think about Bonnie and the times she said she liked to play the Wii Sports and get a work out in. Plus I remember how much fun we had playing Rayman's Raving Rabbids together and how she said she wanted to do a Raving Rabbids type Easter thing for her kids.

My kids generate a lot of paper waste. I used to just throw it away but Bonnie had a place at her house where she kept all the scratch paper. I started doing that at my house and when I put those papers in the scratch paper pile, I think of Bonnie.

I remember when I got my bangs cut. I was not sure how I felt about them because I have not had bangs since middle school (maybe freshman of high school). I drove straight over to her house to show her. So when I style my bangs every day, Bonnie crosses my mind and I wish she could see them now that they have grown out to where I wanted them to begin with.

Now that she has been able to start with simple foods, such as puddings, I will think of her every time I had pudding. And when I have Sprite; she got to drink some today.

I know that there will be more things that I think of and it will make me think of Bonnie. She has had such a huge impact on my life that every day I am reminded of her and I smile.

I am so grateful for the blessing of prayer. I know that without them, Bonnie would not be alive. I also know, that through the continued prayers in her behalf, she will continue to do well and will eventually be up and about.

I love and miss you, Bonnie. I will come up and visit you as soon as I am able!!

Bonnie

Ever since Bonnie's accident she is constantly on my mind. I am so happy to hear that she is slowly becoming more aware and healing.

I think about her several times throughout the day.

I decided to sit down and write about some of the things that make me think of Bonnie.

On the days I go running, I go past her house and I think about her.

Whenever I use my V CAST Song ID I think of her because of what Bill told me. He told me that he showed Bonnie the free program for her Verizon phone so she could identify songs. Well, I guess he neglected to tell her that you had to hold it up to the radio for it to identify because she complained to him one day that the program wasn't working. Come to find out that she was singing songs into the phone trying to identify what song she was singing. I still smile when I think about that.

When I see a long blond woman at the store, I wish it was her.

When I talk to a baby and my voice gets all high pitched and gooey, I think of how much I love hearing her talk to babies and find myself sounding like her.

Bonnie often made silly faces and when I make silly faces or see someone make one, it makes me think of her.

When I eat popcorn, I think about when she and I attempted to make Audree's white chocolate popcorn.

When I play Uno-Flash, I think of how much fun she is to play with at that game and the many times we played it.

Something as simple as cabbage makes me think of her.... and the time we ran to Wal-Mart and got all the ingredients for that Cabbage Soup Diet. We both didn't care for it much...

When I go to Maggie Moos I think about the times we would go there. The first time we were there together, we were with our friend Danielle and it was after a Relief Society Enrichment night. There was another time we went where we took our husbands and I wore a clown wig. It was so much fun watching Bill and Larry not wanting to stand near me with that thing on (which I kept on the entire time we were in eating our ice cream). Bonnie had fun with it and didn't care I was wearing a wig.

I remember the time Bonnie, Larry, Bill and myself went to Alberto's to eat. Bonnie was so cute as she tasted a little bit of everything. I have a hard time going there without her.

Apparently we ate out a lot. For a Girls' Day Out, Bonnie, Danielle, Lana, and myself went to Pizza Factory. Oh, and Bonnie brought Makayla. We had so much fun stuffing our faces as we ate a HUGE salad from the salad bar and our breadsticks.

There was another Girls' Day Out when we had lunch at the Garden House. This time Lana couldn't make it. Besides the delish food, I remember her holding Danielle's little girl, Ella. She just doted on Ella and would tell her, "I could just eat you up!"

One time Bill and I took Bonnie and Larry to Off the Cuff and it was a blast watching them laugh at the silliness. So when I see OTC members in town, I think about Bonnie.

One thing that Bonnie and I shared a love of was VeggieTales. We LOVED VeggieTales. When we were first starting to become friends, I would lend her the VeggieTales she didn't have. I loved hearing her sing "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything." When we watch VeggieTales, I think of her.

When my girls want to build an indoor tent I think of when we were at the Gerber's house and her girls and my girls built an indoor tent in their house. I would stress that my girls would break something and she was so mellow and would say, "Everything is from the DI, don't worry, they can't harm anything." She let the girls be girls. So whenever my girls ask or make an indoor tent, I remind myself that the girls need to be girls.

Bonnie was my visiting teacher and one month, she gave me an awesome painted rock. I LOVE it and keep it by my TV. So now, every time I see that rock, I think of Bonnie and hope she will continue to heal well.

Bonnie has had a GINORMOUS impact in my life. Her healing has been miraculous so far and I am eternally grateful for Heavenly Father answering our prayers. There are a bunch of people praying for her. I am sure she has had a huge impact in their lives as well. Bonnie truly is one of the most awesome friends a person could have.

On this Thanksgiving, I am thankful for Bonnie and pray she will continue to heal well.