Beth: The Artiste
Beth is our oldest grandchild, our only granddaughter and the oldest of Becky's two children. She is beautiful and incredibly artistic.Beth was born when Becky was only two months shy of her 17th birthday so you could say they grew up together. Beth was a sweet delightful little girl – when she wasn't around her mother. She learned fairly early how and what buttons of her mother's to push. It always makes me think of that Longfellow poem:
There was a little girl,who had a little curl,
Right in the middle of her forehead.
When she was good, She was very good indeed,
But when she was bad she was horrid.
Nevertheless, I love Beth very much and I enjoyed her visits to our home in Hayward. Beth and her brother loved coming to visit because they could both play on the computer(s) at the same time. For Beth, as a preteen, that meant lots of emailing and spending time on My Space.
When Beth was born my kids and I were still living with my Mom. Becky and Beth both continued to live with us until Beth was about two years old. That meant that her grandmother (me) and her great-grandmother (my Mom – who she was named for) got to spend some quality baby time with her.
Beth has been blessed with a great imagination (I think that is why she is so creative). I can remember my mother sitting on the stairs with Beth and listening to Beth telling her a story. Other times they would be in my mother’s bedroom playing “Birthday Party.” This entailed the need for a box and wrapping paper – and of course something to put in the box (a book, slippers, it didn’t matter). Mom would help Beth wrap the “present” and then, more than likely, would be the recipient and would then open it and exclaim how much she loved it.
As she grew older, Beth used her imagination to tell stories and draw pictures. She would either write them in a notebook or type them on the computer. I was always rather amazed at her rather elaborate stories; I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that she also devours (rather than savors) books.
When Beth was 15 I guess she pushed too many of her mother’s buttons one too many times. Becky made the really hard decision to send Beth to her Dad's. Beth didn't like it, but she settled in at her new high school and made new friends. She still got to come home to her Mom's every other weekend, so she could spend time with her BFF. The bottom line is that it was probably the best thing Becky could have done for Beth at the time. Separation and her responsibilities at her Dad's were enough to help Beth mature and revitalize her relationship with her Mom.
Today, Beth is a self-assured young woman who graduated high school this last June. She is going to be working for a bit while she decides what to do next. She and her BFF have some fairly comprehensive plans for after graduation that include working and saving money for college while living with Becky. That should be interesting…
Click here to view a special 18th birthday letter to Beth from me.