Betty

I always had a special connection to my Aunt Betty when I was a young girl. She was the one person I could turn to when circumstances became too much for me to handle. I loved her dearly and I still do. I spent as many nights as momma would allow at my Aunt Betty's house. Grandmother used to shake her head and say, "that girl loves Betty more than her own momma". I guess that was close to being true. I loved them both but it was easier to show it to Betty than to momma.

When I was young I was convinced that Betty loved me more than anybody in the whole world including her own children. I can see now that while that may not have been exactly the way it was..... it was exactly the way she made me feel. What's wrong with that? Not a dern thing!

I looked forward to going to church with Betty and my cousins on Wednesday nights because afterwards she would whip up some dip and open a bag of chips while we watched "The Twilight Zone". It was nights like those that kept me going during some difficult times. Momma had remarried and I wasn't thrilled about it. In fact, the only good thing to come from it was my baby brothers and a cool older stepsister. As much as I loved them I disliked my stepfather.

We used to have some pretty good fights at our house in those days. We were the polar opposite of the Brady Bunch more like the crabby bunch. It was after one of those fights that I decided to run away. I packed my clothes and headed across the street to my Aunt Betty's house where I informed her of my plan to live with her. I was busy settling into my new home when momma arrived with a green switch in hand. She whipped me all the way home while making me carry my clothes. Some of the family still talks about Louise whipping Sandra all the way up the hill and across the yard. I know I never forgot it. The whipping hurt like the dickens but not nearly as much as seeing momma cry about what I'd done. I went back home and prayed for a divorce.

God must have been listening because a few years later the divorce came along with some other unwelcome changes. Betty remarried and moved away. I missed her but by that time I had come to realize that I wasn't the center of her universe and that was okay. I take comfort in knowing that I was then and still am her very favorite niece. Oops! Sorry, Kissy, Becky, Wendy, Stacey, and Jessica but y'all had to know I'm the favorite.