It was Friday afternoon later, about 5:45 PM, I got off work and made the "commute" from my job to the living room.
Joining my wife Andrea, our daughter Randie and her friend who was visiting from out of town, I plopped wearily into to a chair and began idly scrolling through some headlines when I saw one that I hoped was some kind of cruel hoax or an unfunny joke.
The other three immediately checked their own phones and confirmed that the headline was cruel and unfunny but also most distressingly true.
Betty White had died.
At just a few weeks shy of her 100th birthday, Betty White, an actress of TV, movies and the stage, had become a cultural icon, universally beloved.
No matter what the world tossed at us, from pandemics to insane political movements, as long as Betty White was alive, we were going to be OK.
Betty White kept us safe.
It was no a role one would expect from the sharp witted comedic actress with the feisty spirit whose chief occupation in her long life was just to make us laugh. But she did that occupation so well and for so long, a constant presence of grace and good humor.
Even while feeding baby crocodiles in Lake Placid.
Ryan Reynolds, who co-starred with White in “Deadpool” and “The Proposal", had this to say: “The world looks different now. She was great at defying expectation. She managed to grow very old and somehow, not old enough.”
Living almost to age 100 as Betty White did, it almost seems counter intuitive to say someone died too soon. But for Betty whose mind was a sharp as ever, it does indeed seem too soon.
I can't help think that Betty White wasn't quite done with us yet.
We certainly weren't ready to let her go.
But always the consummate performer, she left us wanting more.
But I must concede to my selfishness that I do not relish a world without Betty White in it.
It makes me feel less safe.
Whoa, that's a downer of a note to end on. Betty wouldn't want that.
Let's end with a laugh with Betty White's monologue from her hosting Saturday Night Live in 2010.
No comments:
Post a Comment