You Needed Me

There are so many people to meet and in thinking about the people who have had the greatest effect on my life ( aside from immediate family) it has NOT been the famous, rich, powerful, well-known people ...it has been
God's most humble. There was an opportunity to meet and befriend a lady of very simple means who lived by herself in the country with a yard full of dogs. She had little but took in and shared what she had with her animals. She had no family and her beloved husband was beaten up and left for dead on the road side on his way home. He had just been paid and was walking down their road when he was attacked. "Betty" lived in a house you could see light through her walls...her family pictures were of the Cartwrights from TV' Bonanza and other people who she did not personally know. She was 1/4 Cherokee Indian and had been raised by her grandmother.
I do not know what happened to her parents. She needed to get some prescriptions filled and there was concern voiced she might be suicidal...she was grieving and depressed. My children and I went to meet her. Before we went into the house I told my two children to mind their manners and then we waited for Betty to put up the dogs.
It took a while and we learned later she was putting down two Jacob's coat braided rugs to spruce up her place.
She was delighted to see us ( especially the children) and we had a nice 1st visit. It was the start of a friendship not only with my family but including others in our religious community. Her first request was PICTURES. Did we have any she could have? She had no bathtub so after some community consultation and a new dress...we found a tactful way of freshing Betty up. She was sweet, innocent and funny and with some time, she became part of our community family. She couldn't read but had more common sense in her little finger than most folks acquire in a lifetime. When she got her welfare check at month's end aside from some cigarettes for herself her main concern was feeding her dogs. She could be somewhat manipulative, but never mean spirited...if she ran out of cigarettes ...somehow she would manage to get you or someone else to drive her to get a few more (and pay for them) with the promise she would pay it back "when her check arrived" :)
She just adored it when she was invited to join out family for a dinner out in a restaurant...she sat there like the proud gramma she had become. There are so many things I could share about my friend and might in future blogs ...when she heard Anne Murray's song "You needed me" she said "that's my song "as we wiped our tears away. I will never not think of her as deeply connected to that song. The lessons we all learned from this humble
spirit will be a part of me forevermore.