WHO WAS IT FOR YOU?

Think back to your childhood for minute. Who did you look up to and want to be like? And how did that person influence you? Look at yourself today. How much are you like that person?

When I was growing up I wanted to be just like my Aunt Beth in every way. She was a loving, giving person who always made you feel like whatever you had to say was the most important thing there was. She was always a lady. She always dressed well and had a natural beauty that she seemed completely comfortable with and oblivious to. If I had to compare her to someone you would recognize I would mention Katherine Hepburn, that level of classy. She had a scatter-brained quality but I suspect that she never missed a trick. I don't remember her having a lot of hobbies or personal interests but she was one hell of a hostess. When her family fell on hard times, she never waivered; she still radiated pride and charm and integrity. It was hard for her to accept advice; I remember her reacting with a "Yes, yes. I know, I know," and then she would promptly walk away and dismiss every word, no matter how well-intentioned.

God bless her, we would make terrible fun of her cooking and meal-planning skills - or rather lack thereof. She would make the craziest combinations of food for a meal. Dinner at her house might consist of spaghetti, baked beans, beets and fresh blueberries. Just really weird stuff like that. But that's how she was, nobody questioned it cause it was Aunt Beth.

She was very traditional. Almost old-fashioned. She wore classic clothes and bought the best. The furniture in her house up until the past few years when she'd become a widow, was the same (expensive) furniture that she and my uncle had furnished their first home with when they got married. And she's got tons of items that belonged to her parents and in-laws alike.

Aunt Beth is definitely a people-person. That is probably the most evident thing about her. I think she lives to socialize. She's the one in the family who knows all the stories about the ancestors. She's the one to circulate information of births and deaths. At the same time she can relate to you every conversation she's had in a day, who went where, what they ate, you name it. But she does it in the most dignified manner, as if she were bestowing information for someone's biography. Whether you care to know it or not. But no one blinks an eye, because it is Aunt Beth. She kind of demands attention in a very subtle way. I daresay I have never seen her sitting quietly in a corner when there are people around.

She's getting older now and not in excellent health but she does ok. She must be close to 80 now but she is still a lady and a damn fine one at that.

There have been times in my life that I've been faced with social situations that left me wondering how to act or react. I can't tell you how many times I relied on my impression of how I thought she might handle the situation. For the most part, I conduct myself as a lady. (In public anyway). I suspect maybe that she had another side to her too, the one she hid from society. I can't imagine the pressure of having to "keep up appearances" as she did. A word comes to mind when I think of how I've viewed her my entire life and that is "genteel" and sort of like my impression of a Southern Belle fluttering her eyelashes to get her way and not one soul realizing that they were being taken in by her charm...

This writing, I'm sure has fallen short of describing the essence of her but I wanted to share a little of her with you. I can only hope to be a bit like her, but am grateful for the example she set for me.