Morning Coffee-“Miss Betty”-Sherri Rosen Publicity, NYC
Betty taught me about unconditional love.
She died when she was 20 years old. Betty had long, black and gold shaggy hair with sparkling golden eyes. When she wanted to be petted she would let you know and when it was enough, you knew it. She first arrived when my son in Seattle was letting go of some of his animals. He had 2 dogs and 2 cats and the cats were the first to go and he asked me if I wanted one of the cats. Without hesitation I said “yes, I want Betty.†Betty was my first pet. My son flew her from Seattle to Newark Airport and me and my boyfriend picked her up. She was drugged and didn’t know what was happening, but when we got her home, out of the case, she walked around and made herself at home. Through all of the years I had her she lived with me, and with my older son Jonathan. Jonathan offered to take care of Betty when I went in for surgery in 200l. He became so attached to her that he didn’t return Betty to me until 3 years later. Some of my friends would ask me if I was angry at Jonathan for not giving Betty back and I said “he must have needed her more than I did.†When I would do healing work, Betty would jump up on the client’s lap (as long as it was okay with the client) and stay with them until the healing was over. The touch of her soft fur on your hand would relax you in an instant. Everyone loved her. When you walked into my apartment you could just feel her sweetness. She used to love to jump onto the window sill and let the sunshine soak into her bones. In all of the years I had her she never went outdoors. I would leave the apartment door open to our hallway, she would step out but come right back. When she got really old, I wasn’t sure how she was going to get onto my new bed which was quite high. When I first bought the bed she ignored me for a few days, even though I would put all sorts of chairs and stools for her to step on to get to the bed. Then one day she leaped from one side of the room right onto the bed arthritic legs and all. When she was younger I would leave her alone in the apartment if I went away, but always having someone come in to feed and play with her, but as she grew older she would either stay with my oldest son or I would have someone come in and take care of her. More and more care was needed for her in her aging years and the vet bills were quite high and many emergency trips to his office, until one day it became clear that her time had come to an end. It’s an awful decision to make putting an animal to sleep. When I brought her to the vet’s office that day, I sat and spoke with her in one of the offices, and she looked at me as if to say “I have had it. It’s time for me to go away. I cannot do this anymore.†I could not stay while the vet put Betty to sleep, so I left the office and the vet called me after it was over. A week later I picked up Betty’s ashes and went to City Hall Park, NYC, which was right across the street from where I lived. I used to spend a lot of time there, and would also help with the gardening. The head gardner said that I could bury Betty’s ashes there, which I did. It was summer, and I picked the most beautiful, flowering bush to put her ashes in. Said a little prayer for her and then emptied the ashes into the soil. Stayed for awhile and then walked away.
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