Friday, May 29, 2020
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45 years ago, in 1975, my family moved from Akron-Kenmore to Uniontown/Green where I began my Junior year at Green High School. I was SO happy to be moving from the city to the country. I began attending Green High and was excited and delighted to get to know all the new kids there. But a short time into my attendance, I heard a girl by the name of Beth Miller, a Sophomore, one year behind me, was quite upset with me and labeling me a name I’d rather not print here, lol. I didn’t understand what I could have possibly done to upset anyone, I’ve always been friendly to all people and even as young and immature as I was, I never limited myself to only hanging out with any one singled out crowd or clique… So, I asked a few of the girls who had told me about what the girl was calling me to point her out to me so I could go make peace with her… She was standing in the lunch line when they pointed her out to me. There she was, a strikingly beautiful, petite blonde… When she saw me coming, and believe me when I say my demeanor and approach was very calm and friendly, she looked like a deer in headlights and she cried out, “I didn’t call you a -----! I didn’t call you a -----!” All I could so was begin laughing, reassure her I was not mad, and asked her if she smoked and if she would like to join me outside to sneak a cigarette and talk. She did. I found out she was upset, not really at me, but at her boyfriend of 2 years that had abruptly broken up with her to date the new girl at the school, “me”… Well, when I learned that he had done that to someone, it didn’t go over with me well and my feelings changed for him quite immediately. But she and I quickly dismissed that subject and talked and talked and laughed and laughed until the bell called us in… As we were running, giggling down the hall together the boy that had caused our meeting saw us together, lol. His face turned beet red. We didn’t say a word to him, we didn’t have to, lol, and she and I looked at each other, laughed and parted ways to go to our separate classes. From that day forward, she didn’t have to take the bus to school – I picked her up and drove her to school every day for my entire Junior and Senior years…. Well, maybe not to school “every” day. You see, there were some days we decided just to drive around instead, in fact, you know Ferris Beuhler? Well, we were the original Beuhlers, lol. I would call her off pretending to be her Mom, she would call me off pretending to be my Mom (using the excuses of severe female cramps most often, migraines, sore throats, fevers, etc.) and we would drive all over the place, eating at A&W, hiking at Virginia Kendal Park, you name it, in my 1974 Cherry Red Chevy Vega named “Ralph”, listening to Todd Rungren on my 8-track and smoking cigarettes. But, hey, we still kept our grades up! Back then, we took our own grade cars home, and so she and I would sit together and carefully, artistically revise the number of days we missed so our parents never knew the better. In fact, it wasn’t until the end of my Senior year that my parents became hip to what we had been doing… I got a strep throat and my Mom had to call me off… when she did, the School Secretary said, “This doesn’t SOUND like Mrs. Blair!” …Ooops! Busted! Lol! But with good grades and only a few weeks left of school, my parents decided not to ground me. THANK you, Mom & Dad!
I asked Beth if she’s like to go with me on a graduation celebration vacation to Virgina Beach. Since she was only 17, she asked her parents and they said, “yes”! We stayed at an oceanfront hotel, “The Saxony Inn” on the main drag, Atlantic Avenue. Oh, the adventures, fun and GREAT time we had there! WOW! I never laughed so much in my life! I wound up meeting a special guy on that vacation, and moved to Virginia Beach just 3 months later after purchasing my first dog as an adult, my beloved German Shepherd, “Shilo”. During the time Shilo and I lived there we made lifelong friends. Bethy visited me several times and made some lifelong friends there too. We always had a blast! I could go on and on and on about our friendship, our experiences, all of the reasons I hold Beth in my heart so dearly but this would become a novel and so I will limit it to just a few of the reasons, addressing it directly to my dear friend…
Dear Beffy Girl, my prized friend, you advised me to use baby oil and baby powder on my skin after every shower and, wow, it sure made a difference to my bone-dry skin! You told me to use Preference by L’Oreal (you used “Honey Blonde for years”) since I loved to change the color of my hair so much and didn’t want to burn it up real bad changing it all the time, lol. You starched and ironed ALL of your clothes before wearing them, even your jeans and permanent press clothing! Albert Hadley had nothing on you when it came to interior decorating. We were horseback riding together when the high strung horse I was riding fell on my leg and I couldn’t get my leg out of the stirrup fast enough… I was wearing your jeans at the time and when the paramedics arrived and they went to cut the jean leg in order to access my injury and I yelled, “Don’t’ cut them! They aren’t my jeans!” You yelled louder, saying, “CUT THEM! CUT THEM! THEY’RE MINE! CUT THEM FOR GOD’S SAKE!” There I was flat on my back, broken foot and knee ripped wide open yet we both laughed our butts off and told jokes in the ambulance all the way to the hospital…which is where you met my parents for the first time, lol. You were SO scared they were going to be mad at you, I don’t know why, but, of course, they immediately adored you instead. Beffy Girl, you were always in hyper-drive to please those you loved and anticipate their needs so you could see to their needs before they could! You never stopped doing that, even as you developed so many health problems and pain as you grew older, you still put your loved ones first before yourself. All the while, you lectured me repeatedly to stop doing that very same thing! We competed in buying each other things, lol, always trying to beat the other one out to paying each other’s bills, for dinners, lunches, breakfasts, etc., we’d even try to pay for each other’s clothing selections when we’d shop together, concert tickets, vacations, we even got into arguments over it! I’d get mad at you if you paid for our stuff before I could and you’d get mad at me if I paid our stuff before you could, lol, quite the opposite of what most would expect but that was us, girlfriend, that was us. We laughed together so much and so hard that tears would stream down our faces and we sometimes even started choking from laughing and wheezing so hard! We worked part time at Dunkin Donuts together while we were in High School. We had special voices we’d use that cracked each other up, we shared tears, fears, beers, joys, deep philosophical beliefs, we shared nin-nins, hot chocolate, we borrowed each other’s clothing and shoes, we watched movies, we went boating with our favorite friends, we double dated many times, we danced at night clubs and bars, i.e., Red’s, B.G.Bree’s, Filthy McNasty’s, Cleveland Flats, The Agora, The Bucket Shop, Printer’s Club, etc., … we drank last call at Chief’s, Orchard Inn or The Falcon. We got the munchies and ate after the bars closed at Country Kitchen, Luigi’s or The Corral, oh, those giant onion rings we loved at the Corral! We played countless games of pool and pinball even though we stunk at it, we played anyway. We played Old Maid with our girlfriends and whoever got the Old Maid had to take a shot. I remember when I got stuck with the Old Maid (and having to drink the punishment shot) too many times in a row and I stepped out of the game, laid down on the couch, fell to sleep and woke up with connect-a-dot animals magic markered all over my face. LOL!!! You BRATS! And, oh, how we loved to go to the ocean together and take in the sun, the beach, the salty breezes, the boardwalk, the people we’d meet, Italian Ices, seafood and our Pinacoladas! I can’t count the number of weekend trips we made to the ocean after I moved back from Virginia Beach but there were quite a few. In more recent years, it became enjoying the Outer Banks together. When we were single, we’d secretly give guys we’d see ratings on scales from 1 to 10. We were fiercely independent working women, always paid our own ways in life, even rejected drinks sent to us by guys so we didn’t have to get stuck talking to them. If we decided to talk to this guy or that guy and they bought us drinks, we’d quickly buy the next round just because we were not about to be accused of taking advantage of them. I remember once we were driving down the road together, in our mid twenties, and came to a big intersection and this very handsome guy pulled up next to us in the turn lane and I elbowed you to take a look at him and said, “Check out that good looking hunk over there”… you glanced over and immediately looked back at me and said in a low, sarcastic voice, “Mel, in a MAVERICK?” I laughed, “I don’t care what he’s driving! I’m just saying he’s good looking!” You said, “NO, Mel Bell, I won’t even look at him, not driving a Maverick!” We both laughed so hard but, truly, that’s one area we kind of weren’t the same about, girlfriend, but that’s okay.
Bethy, when you left this world so suddenly, so unexpectedly, a huge piece of my heart went forever with you. I won’t get to be united with that part of my heart again until I’m in Heaven too. Oh, I know you’re very much alive, young, vibrant, free of pain and ecstatic to be There… but I want you HERE, on this side of Creation; HERE, where I can still tangibly interact with you, hear you, see you, laugh with you, plan get-togethers at the ocean with you, share with you in a way we simply cannot do with you there and me still here… I don’t want to have to die in order to get to see you face to face again but, well, God is the Boss, and so I’m going to have to accept and trust His timing about it. In the meantime, Beffy Girl, here’s what I have to say to you, my treasured friend; THANK you for being such a huge, wonderful part of my life here. THANK you, THANK you, THANK you, and I THANK GOD for you. Jesus said He was going to prepare a Place for us… I can picture you right under His feet, beside Him, anticipating His needs, helping Him make it extra fabulous for each of your loved one’s arrivals there. But, that’s you, sweetie. That’s our Beffy Girl.
Give my Mom, my Dad, all of my treasured loved ones already there, Ron John, Mark, Tracey, Scott, Grandma Haley (you loved her so too!) Aunt Ginny, Uncle Brooks, my Grandmas and Grandpas, Fines, my Uncles and Aunts, all my other precious loved ones there, and Shilo, Roxy, Sophie, LiLi, Nayla, Daisy, Gretta & Sunny, give them all BIG heavenly hugs and smooches from me. See you soon, girlfriend… It may be 30 years from now it may be minutes from now, either way, our time here is but a flash in a pan. We sure had GREAT times together on this earthly side of creation, Beffy, yes, we did, indeed, too many to count. I look forward to when we get to resume having great times together again on the spiritual side. Won’t that be something? Love you forever & always, Mel Bell
