Infamous Betsy

Aunt  Helen and Betsy

 

I want to tell you a little story.

Maybe this will shed some light on some of the comments I have made in the past. Maybe this will simply be informational. Maybe this is just because I was going down memory lane.

I want to tell you about Betsy.

Betsy was my Great Aunt Helen's dear friend. I always remember her being very kind and pleasant to be around. Betsy developed Alzheimer and has since passed away. But Betsy has become, and continues to be, an integral part of our family ... though at the time we knew her I'm sure she had no idea what an impact she would have on us.

Somewhere in her stages of Alzheimer's, my Aunt Helen and Betsy visited us in Washington from Arizona. It was a summer evening and we of course were having our Sunday dinner on my parent's back patio. We were all enjoying each others company when all of the sudden Betsy took out her wallet and started handing us kids ten, twenty and fifty-dollar bills like it was candy!

Betsy wouldn't take no for an answer when we told her we couldn't accept the money. I think by the end she had given me alone eighty dollars in cash. That seemed like gold in my middle-school-aged mind.We all had a good laugh because, bless her heart, she wasn't all the way there at that time. We of course snuck all of the cash back into her purse before they left that night.

From then on, for the rest of the week, month and next several years, every time we would ask my mom for money would address her as Betsy.  

Betsy can I have money for this shirt? Betsy I need these shoes! Betsy can I get some money for school fees? Betsy the car needs to be filled up with gas. When it came to money, my mom was Betsy.

Even in college my roommates became well acquainted with Betsy through the U.S. Postal Service. Every time I received mail and the return address had the name Betsy on it ... they knew just what was inside. More than once I would walk in the door and one of them would say Lisa, your mom sent you money. There the envelope would be sitting on the kitchen table. Unopened. And they already knew exactly what was inside.

Betsy has evolved into more of a family joke than anything. We even tease my mom when we go shopping that we want Betsy to come along. So when the brand Betsey Johnson came to be, it was only natural that we give my mom some jewelry from that line. It seemed like the fitting thing because my mom is Betsy Johnson. Every time I pass anything Betsey Johnson in a department store I laugh and smile to myself as I pass by.

This may help you understand our lingo in the Johnson household a little more. So every time you hear any of us refer to Betsy, you now know why.

In our household, we love Betsy. Love her for so many reasons. Do not be surprised if one of us name one of our children Betsy. That is how much of an integral part the name Betsy, and Betsy herself, has become in our family.

Oh Betsy ... what would we have done all these years without you.