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Someone Cares: Paper Lady

A Missouri woman’s morning walks presented an opportunity to perform a small kindness for a neighbor with Parkinson’s disease.

An artist's rendering of a woman handing a newspaper to a senior man
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What made me give up my couch potato ways? An upcoming four-day hike in the Grand Canyon with my daughter. And the desire to ward off Alzheimer’s, which had struck my mother. I started walking and jogging around my neighborhood to get in shape.

One morning I noticed a neighbor struggling to bend down and pick up his newspaper, so I grabbed it to give to him. The next morning, I saw the paper on the lawn. It took less than a minute to take it to his front porch.

That was the pattern until the day he caught me in the act. He explained that he has Parkinson’s disease, which makes it hard to get down the porch steps to fetch the paper. After that, I started putting it in the door.

He responded by taping a note to the door: “Newspaper Lady, thank you so much.”

Knowing that my neighbor appreciates my simple gesture is just the motivation I need to get me walking in the morning. I’d rather be a newspaper lady than a couch potato.

Learn more about Someone Cares greeting cards!

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