My Betty Blog

Betty dancing with Tom, Meagan's wedding, Sept. 2007 (by Karen Branson)

This is my "Betty Blog." Betty is technically my stepmother. She married my dad in July, 2007, six months before he died. But it's easier for me to think of her as a friend...

She is a friend with whom I rarely spend time, but a friend just the same. I know her mostly through her e-mail messages. The messages may not be frequent, but each one conveys her spirit so thoroughly that I feel like I have known her for a long time. I can see how my dad was drawn to this bundle of energy and good will!

Betty is in my heart in a special way these days before Christmas. I'm thinking of the vast difference she must be feel between this year and last, when she and Dad were celebrating their first Christmas together. This Christmas will be bittersweet for all of us -- our first without Dad. But I know Betty misses him in a way that is different from the emptiness that my brothers and sisters and I are feeling.

Yet she remains positive and hope-filled. She continues to do the things that she and Dad did together. Daily Mass, Hospice volunteering, visiting his brother in the nursing home, maintaining ties with his family. I know Betty has many friends whom she considers family. She stays active -- even during the heavy-duty Michigan winters. This is a lady who will never be alone. She will never be "old" (whatever that is.) Her deep faith and trust and God shine through everything she does.

I have only actually spent time with Betty on three occasions. Two of them were celebrations of joy -- the family gathering we had in Michigan after she and Dad got married, and Meagan's wedding last September, when she and Dad came to North Carolina. The last time I saw her was a celebration of a different sort -- Dad's life. Of course there were many tears then. But I also remember her sweet, gentle smile. That is the face that Betty wears when I see her in my heart.

I just wanted to say something about Betty today. God bless you, dear friend.