Thoughts.com Blogs - Memories of Betty

As usual I answered a post in the forums and I needed to get additional cobwebs out from my mind.
It had to do with if money were no option what would you give to someone.I had just watched a news special over the weekend about Iraqi children left orphans since the war.Children being orphaned from anywhere makes me sad.It brought back memories of my Mother in law Betty who has since passed away.

Betty had 6 siblings.Her Mother had died shortly after giving birth to her youngest child.Betty was 3 when her Mother had passed away.Her family was poor,her Father worked as a share cropper.Allegations had been made that he had molested his daughters.He was convicted and put into prison.Betty and her siblings were put into foster care.

From her accounts it was horrible.She said the couple that took them in had a daughter of their own and that they were also alcoholics.She remembered one night they came into her and her sisters room and urinated on their clothing her older sister had layed out for them to wear the next day.What is wrong with some people?Urinating on childrens clothes?Her sister Hazel(the eldest) washed their clothes out in the bath tub before going back to bed.She also remember Hazel running their hair ribbons along a light bulb to iron them out.She told of a time when her and her brother were taken to the basement sat in chairs and placed back to back.They had tied them up with rope and left them there in the dark for hours.They were given bread with lard and sugar on it to eat along with raw potatoes.That is what they were fed daily.Cooked meals were only for the couple and their daughter.These are just a few of the atrocities they had suffered from this couple.Most are way more brutal than I want to share.

Hazel would beg children services to come out and see what was happening.Children services always announced their visits,it gave the couple time to put on a facade.The agency would find things to their liking.Finally Hazel was able to convince them to come unannounced,they did,then the children were finally pulled from the house of terror and placed in an orphanage.

Only 6 of the kids went to the orphanage.Hazel ran away and was married by the time she was 16.Betty and her sister Gloria watched as 4 of their siblings were adopted out one by one.Betty was next in line,she was adopted at the age of 8.Gloria was never adopted she spent her youth at the orphanage.Betty had seen 2 of her sisters after her adoption,she and her sisters weren't allowed contact.

So many simple things we take for granted in our lives.Betty had never had a piece of fruit until the age of 8.Fruit remained one of her pleasures through out her life.When she had fresh fruit in the house it made her feel rich.Not a luxury to some to her it was better than all the money in the world.

Betty had made contact with Hazel and Gloria in her early 20's.It wasn't until her late 40's that all of them had made contact again.Some had very hard lives,some faired better.There are only 4 of the 7 still alive.First it was Hazel then Raymond then Betty a few years ago.

Betty brought so much enrichment into my life.I will always miss her.She could of turned out broken,she didn't.She let bygones be bygones and truly enjoyed her life and the lives of her children.She made mistakes like we all do,comes from being human.Betty was happy to just be anywhere,always had a smile and a soft spot for children.

I will always be greatful for her friendship,her stories and her teachings.I learned many things through her,useful things I still implement in my life today.Thank you Betty,you are much loved and deeply missed.