Beth-isms

"Well, God love ya." During my years of knowing Beth, that had to be her most frequently used expression. It was not a "Smile. God loves you" kind of thing, either. It was more like a "Well, God is going to have to love you, and help you, and do everything for you...because you have just proved that you have absolutley no ability to adequately function in this world." Now it was never mean-spirited; it was just truth. She used it just as often on herself. "Well, God love me!"

Today marks the 3-year anniversary of her heart attack. This time three years ago I was with her at WakeMed Cary trying to wrap my mind around what was happening to our lives.

Well, I don't have to ever try to wrap my mind around how much Beth meant to me. She was THE most incredible woman...THE most incredible person I have ever known. I miss her terribly.

I took some flowers out to the cemetery today and was able to sit for a while, enjoying the beautiful weather. As I was sitting underneath the tree, I started laughing at all of the great Beth-isms I could remember.

For instance:

"I'm gonna rip every hair out of your head!" - frequently said to me or one (or all) of the animals...whomever had just done something really stupid.

"Bless your heart!" - see "Well, God love ya." above

"Doin' so good I can't stand it!" - her answer when I would call her at work and ask her how her day was going. I could tell in her voice if she had someone in her office and was either correcting them or getting ready to fire them.

"God doesn't like ugly" or "That was ugly!" - said to me when I would get a good "dig" in at her or I would get her flustered.

"Why don't you try to act like you love me?" - said to me when I was unsuccessful in reading her mind. :)

Beth could always make me smile and make me laugh.

Ooops! I just spilled some wine on the carpet!

"Well, God love me!"