The Many Saviors of Bethany

It was so terribly cold. Snow was falling and it was almost dark. Betsy staggered down the sidewalk trying to reach the hospital before her baby simply fell out of her. Her partner had not called or come home in days, so she was on her own.

Later on, as she was waiting for the doctor to come check in on her, she marveled at the little girl baby on her chest. She decided to name her Bethany and vowed that her father would never be in her life. When the doc came in, she told him she was starving and he ordered her a pizza. It was rumored she ate it while still staring at her new daughter.

Betsy worked for a local veterinarian and lived above his office in her own apartment. She found it difficult working and trying to care for Bethany alone, so her parents told her they would take Bethany until she got on her feet. To be honest, the thought had crossed her mind to give her up for adoption. Maybe someone else could give her a better life. So, when her mother said “Bring her to me” she did. Bethany lived there for the first three years of her life.

Now Mother Caldron was an old-fashioned, very religious kind of lady and she took Behany to church very early -even though Pa Caldron did not feel the same way. He was too busy tending to the farm and doing “man” stuff is what he told her. She ignored him and took the little one everywhere she went. She was loved very much and everyone in the small rural town loved her. Bethany was a tiny thing who started talking before she had teeth! People used to laugh at the tot walking with her granny and chatting up a storm.

Her uncles and her aunts and cousins all doted on her too. How blessed she was! Betsy came to visit every weekend that she could. Luckily, her apartment was only 30 minutes from her parents house, but they lived in different Mississippi towns. One was on the beach and one was in the woods. When Bethany was at her grandparents house, she got to eat what she liked and play with lots of animals. Chickens, pigs, and cows were her friends and her uncle Tom used to carry her around to keep her from getting trampled because she was so small. He also played the guitar and Bethany lived to sing with him and her aunt Sarah.

She was having quite the charmed life until it was time for Betsy to come get her. She had met a new man and he was a keeper. They were going to be a family she told her. Bethany was three. In her world, she already had a family. Before she left, Grandmother gave her a pocket Bible with a multi-colored cover, just like the coat Joseph wore in the Bible story. She taught her the 23rd Psalm and told her when she was scared or lonely, remember she was with her in her heart.

Bethany, her mother, and the new man…Gavin, moved into a new town and lived in a trailer house, in a trailer park. Life was different, but ok. Eventually, she even got her own swingset in the backyard. She loved to swing and sing songs at the top of her lungs. One day, she was outside doing just that, with a Lifesaver candy in her mouth. Luckily, the neighbor lady saw her choking and sped across the yard, yanked her off the swing and smacked her hard right between the shoulders. The candy flew out, thus saving her life. Her mother was distraught, then so thankful. They remained friends for life.

In Betsy's mind, that made three times her baby’s life was spared. Once when she decided to keep her, twice when her mother took her, and just then. She had sold everything she had just to keep her and pay the bills. That was the story she always told her anyway. Gavin went to work fixing anything that was electric and Betsy got to stay home and take care of Bethany. Slowly, things were becoming normal and they were even able to afford moving to a new state.

Now Gavin was working for a big company and they rented a fine, two-story house in South Carolina. His mother had been ill, so she moved in with them and took care of Bethany when Betsy had social obligations -like playing Bingo with her friends. Other times she and Gavin would go bowling, eventually joining a league. Soon, things changed again, and Bethany didn't like it one bit. She was about four when her mother and Gavin came home with a new baby brother. She had always been the baby, so she was unsure about this. Grandma took her aside and told her to be nice and help her mother take care of Kenneth. Slowly but surely, she grew to love him very much.

Life went well for a year or so and then Gavin announced it was time to move again, he was made a job offer too good to pass up. The little family was moving across the country to California! How exciting was this going to be!

First, they went to see her grandparents and tell them the news. Not being there, one can't imagine it was well-received. Grandmother and Grandad didn't have the kind of money to visit, so there would be a lot of letter writing. Her grandma on Gavin’s side was getting sicker too, so it was at this time she got put in a nursing home so she would have round-the-clock care. Soon, they found themselves in the desert and bought a house right on the edge of it in a small, but beautiful neighborhood. They even got to know their neighbors and played with the kids that lived there.

It was time for Bethany to start school. She remembered walking down a long, long sidewalk, playing on the playground, then walking back down the long, long sidewalk home. She loved school and being around other children. But kids were mean she learned. They called her names because she was so little. “Midget” or “Pygmie” were some of her nicknames. One time, while in her own front yard, a gigantic dog walked right up to her and stared in her face. She was so scared, she almost wet her pants before his owner; a cop, came to pull him away. He apologized and told her he was a good dog, but she was forever traumatized.

When she was about six years old, her daddy got vacation time (he had adopted her and gave her his name, so he was Daddy now) and the whole family got to go to Disneyland in Anaheim, California. She had so much fun, riding the rides and seeing all of the Disney characters. Her favorite ride was the one where they went into a cave and the music playing was It's a Small World Afterall. They were in little boats on a water circuit. It was hot and at the end of the ride they passed under a curtain of mist. She never forgot that.

There were bad times too. Like the time Billy fell off the monkey bars at school and bled and bled when he landed on a lunchbox splitting his tongue open. Another time, they were all walking home from school and someone threw a big clump of concrete at Derrick Robinson and Bethany looked behind her to see him screaming crying with blood running down his face. She ran as fast as her little legs could carry her and yelled for Betsy to come now someone was hurt bad!!

Another time her mother got mad at something or someone and threw Bethany on the bed and was screaming at her. She didn't understand what was going on, but somehow felt like it was her fault. After that, she was very timid around her mother. She drew closer to Kenneth and stayed at her friend’s house as long as she was allowed. It was easy because she lived right across the street.

In time, Gavin got the best job offer ever, but they had to move again. This time, they landed in Texas. He worked at a huge company in Dallas, but Betsy didn't want to move there, so they lived in the suburbs of Ft Worth. This caused more tension, but they had ways of dealing with that. Like drinking. And they bowled on a league. So twice a week, they got to be babysat and that was fun. Their babysitter would make them sweet treats and play fun games with them. One time, they were playing hide and seek and Kenneth shut her in the closet. She thought she would die before the babysitter found her.

So that was her childhood along with the rest of it that was pretty normal. Crushes on boys, shopping with girlfriends, fighting off and on with her bestie next door. Then came the part-time job and after that it was graduation time. Bethany wanted a new adventure, so she decide to be all she could be and joined the Army. She learned how to work in the medical field and eventually got a job in the lab of a hospital near her childhood home. Life went on, she worked hard and partied harder. She met men, had relationships she thought would last forever and they didn't. Her mother made her mad when she always predicted who was a user and a loser.

The day she met Danny, she knew all of that was over forever. It was strange because she had gone from her loving, overprotective parents to the military, always bossed around by someone. She had had one year of freedom and when she met Danny, she was more than willing to give it all up for him. He was safety, security, and love. He was her knight in shining armor and she knew in her heart, they would never be apart.

They had two boys and made a good life together, they had good friends and moved around a lot. He had saved her from a life of bad choices like the wrong kind of man, or drug addiction. But that was life, right? Except she knew that wasn't how her life had been heading. It was a miracle from God that she met Danny. He made good money and bought her a house and a car. Then came more houses and cars, and many new adventures. The next thing she knew, forty years had gone by and they were still together, riding the waves.

Their parents passed away, their kids gew up and moved away, but they still had each other. Through the ups and downs, thick and thin times, they remained each other’s best friend. They were rarely seen apart from one another, and when people saw them, they were always holding hands.

Nowadays, they live in a recreational vehicle and travel the states, chasing those seventy-degree temperatures. I wonder where life will take them next?