Friday, April 9, 2010

Betty's Spirit

I met Betty for the first time over dinner a few years ago at the house of my best friend's family. My friend asked me to talk with her real loud directing my voice towards her left ear. I did and we had a pleasant conversation and I was amused by her spirit. I suggested to her to buy the cordless headset that enables her to listen to the TV real loud without waking up her husband. She did and was very happy to be able to enjoy her TV shows and not worry about the volume.

I met Betty again last year, she remembered me and we talked about whatever two strangers would talk about over Thanksgiving dinner. It was wonderful seeing her again, even though I learned that she had just lost her husband who was her whole life and now she's alone facing the world with its challenges all by herself.

And this year I met her over Easter Dinner, she was very happy and we playfully fought over a certain dish that my friend's mom makes so well. Betty asked us to go over to her place and meet her little chihuahua Loulou whom she rescued from the annual Bow-wows and Meows that My friend does to promote awareness about adopting pets instead of buying them. But Betty wouldn't listen to any compliment about how she saved Loulou's life without responding that Loulou is the one who saved her life.

As we were walking, she asked us to slow down because she couldn't walk fast. We arrived to her place, just up the street, and Loulou barked her heart out at us. It took her 10 minutes to warm up and approach us, God only knows what she's been through before Betty adopted her that made her distrust human kind that much.

Betty was happy, so happy you can tell. Very simple woman in her 60s, suffers from Migraine, back pain, hardly able to hear, uses thick glasses to see and walks slowly because of her health issues. She grew up in an orphanage and had no chance to know or meet her parents. Had an abusive first husband who treated her so badly, then she married a better man whom she painfully lost to cancer. She lives on her own, hardly gets any visitors, rents out a room to help herself pay the bills, takes care of Loulou and survives every day with a smile on her face.

I know there are many more people with more health challenges, more pain in their lives, but what strikes me about Betty is her spirit. She's content, she's happy and she wants nothing but to take care of herself and her Loulou and be able to live her life. Very simple woman, real, genuine and so loving. We hugged before I left as if we were family. Some people are just like that, they love you and let you in and want nothing from you. Betty, you are an inspiring woman, I have so much respect and admiration for you!