Remembering Our Last Golden Girl

I think it goes without saying that despite her age of ninety-nine, everyone was shocked by the death of Betty White on New Year’s Eve. Given how long her career has spanned through her work on television and movies, along with her animal activism work, it’s safe to say those who loved her believed she would somehow just live forever, or that she would at least live to see her one hundredth birthday. However, this isn’t what happened. We did lose Betty White on New Year’s Eve, and what we have are the warm memories of Betty White coming into our homes and more or less becoming a member of our families.

As a child, The Golden Girls was a constant in our house from the time I was very little. Being born in 1992 I watched the reruns. Even with just having the reruns my family still enjoyed the show on a consistent basis. It started with watching with my mother. To then watching it with my Great Grandmother, who was very much the perfect blend of Betty White and B. Arthur for me. After my Great Grandmother passed away, I continued to watch the show, more to feel close to my GG, whom I was very close to and was devastated to lose her. As I got older and became familiar with the works of all four of the women who appeared on the show, in many ways they were a part of my extended family growing up.

Betty White is a special case. I’m in no way minimizing the works of Betty’s three costars. All four of them have left their own mark and each one of them deserves their own piece written about them, something I will likely do in the near future. Betty White, for lack of better words, was the last woman standing and has continued to work and put out good quality work well into her nineties.

Her career has spanned eighty years and never once has she appeared unhappy with how her life had turned out.

It seems that if there was anything that wasn’t perfect about her life it’s that the love of her life, who passed away in 1981 from stomach cancer. Betty White never remarried, her standards likely being set too high to ever take the leap again. This is proven with the truth of her last word. Her last word being “Allen…”.

Even with her tragic loss Betty White has always remained positive. She kept up with the actors and comedians who have come up behind her, following her footsteps with their own success. Betty White has been consistent and she has done all of this with a genuine smile on her face every step of the way.

One thing I was actually surprised to learn after her passing was that Betty White didn’t have children.

Why this surprised me I can’t say. All I can say is I suppose it was just something I assumed about her, that she had children. However, now that I look at the life she had, or the parts of her life she has allowed the world of her fans to see over the years, it’s a fact about her that makes sense when you sit and think about it.

Many times, as an artist, that art becomes your child. It becomes the one thing you want to put all of your energy into. That is if you’re not one of those people who think they can do it all; the art, the spouse, the children, and the nice house in the nice suburban neighborhood. If you know your limits you know that your art is what you want to nurture in any way possible so you can come to the place where you feel at least close to whole, like you’ve lived life on your terms and you’ve achieved the great body of work you’ve always wanted as an artist. I think this is in part why you hear many stories about celebrity children writing tell all books or appearing in documentaries about their parents and the abuse they suffered as a result of their parents not being able to find the necessary balance to have everything.

While we don’t know all of the intimate details as to why Betty White didn’t have her own children, her not having children does make sense when you look at the life she has been able to live.

What is most important about this is Betty White was able to put herself first and do the things that made her the happiest because she had all the time to accomplish it all. Like taking care of animals and being very involved in bettering the live of all sorts of different animals over the years. Which has sparked the #BettyWhiteChallenge, which isn’t so much a challenge as it was an opportunity to give back the way Betty White would have loved, which was to donate five d0llars in her name to any l0cal animal shelter or rescue on her birthday. While I myself wasn’t able to make this donation myself, Betty’s birthday this year, what would have been her one hundredth birthday, some things in my personal life were resolved in a way I never thought they would be resolved. This personal matter will be mentioned in a future piece. But I digress. Betty White cared about animals and this is an action I believe the world could easily do from this year forward and really create some serious change for the well being of animals all over.

While we might be sad, while we might be watching The Golden Girls, Hot in Cleveland and the Mary Tyler Moore show on repeat while we cry, Betty White lived the life everyone dreams off but isn’t always achieved. If there’s anything to take away from Betty White’s life or what her legacy will be. It’s to live your life for you. Be positive. Laugh and smile. Treat others well and how you would like to be treated. And just live. Live as you want to live.

Life is already so serious. Why not laugh it up a little?