Mrs. Teabody Encourages "Girls" to Rule



 
So keep repeating it's the berries, 
The strongest oak must fall, 
The sweet things in life, to you were just loaned 
So how can you lose what you've never owned? 
Life is just a bowl of cherries, 
So live and laugh at it all. ~ George Gershwin

Betsyintancoat
Good Morning from Meadow Grounds Mountain where each  successive 5:00 A.M. is fractionally darker than the day before, and  all too soon that December day will arrive when there is considerably more pajama time than fancy dress time in the allotted twenty-four. Sigh. Unlike Mr. Teabody who lapses into his frowniest visage of the year during these darkening days, Mrs. Teabody feels a renewal of energy, a rejuvenation of spirits, a desire to make and  execute  PLANS. A few weeks back as Mrs. Teabody made plans for FFFF -- the festival that puts more feet on the beloved  soil of Fulton County over two days than all other days of the year combined -- she decided to enlist the help of her friend Betsy to make the anticipated busy-ness of the days  pass with the spirit of bonhomie.
More than a decade ago NEWSWEEK chose as their cover story the women’s World Cup victory captioned with the words, “Girls Rule.” What a powerful cover! What a powerful image! Today Mrs. Teabody chooses to share with you a few thoughts about one of her favorite friends and a “girl” who definitely rules, Betsy. In the last few years following her retirement, she has recorded two jazz and classics CD’s that the Teabodys enjoy listening to–partly because Betsy is a cherished friend, partly because Mrs. Teabody loves the songs and Betsy performs them well, and partly because Betsy set a goal for herself and then went out and made it happen. Mrs. Teabody doesn't know about you, but that is what she expects of her “girls” — that they get things done.
On festival day, Betsy arrived at Tickle Your Fancy, looking her usual beautifully-put-together self: sparkling smile, eyes twinkling with merriment and ready to handle whatever came her way.  The day began with the FFFF parade and Mrs. Teabody watched in awe as her  urbane friend maintained her upbeat attitude,  her curiosity and her appreciation for  a ninety-minute procession that contained close to five hundred TRACTORS. While it is true that the sight of so very much farm machinery rolling along a main thoroughfare would be completely unfamiliar to a woman who spends the biggest portion of her life along a tree-lined street in  NW Washington, D.C., Betsy's appreciation came from another place. "Isn't that smart?" she'd say of an especially shiny red tractor. "Have you noticed the number of families that are together?" she'd say of the couples with babies and toddlers. "Don't you just LOVE a high school band?" she'd ask, clapping in appreciation, long after the most diehard of parade goers had started asking, "Is it over?" Betsy's delight in living comes entirely from within, a trait more valuable than anything that glistens.
TYF was very busy and the decision had been made that one of Betsy's CDs would play during the flurry and that singing along was absolutely acceptable-- encouraged, in fact. Mrs. Teabody saw Betsy engage in a  short jitterbug with one customer and saw her showing a Charleston step to a four year-old girl, all the while moving among the crowd with her characteristic warmth and friendliness. Magnificent. This is how a happy person moves through life, make no mistake about it. Live. And laugh.
Mrs. Teabody hopes you have a Betsy in your life. Everyone should have at least one. Perhaps your Betsy is your mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, neighbor, or best friend. Mrs. Teabody recommends that you surround yourself with women who mine for the silver lining in every foreboding cloud, who call upon their wit and common sense when pruning life's thorny corners, who recognize and foster their God-given talents, and, most importantly, who can pick out everything that is wonderful in a parade of  "mostly tractors." 
Ta for now. Girls rule!

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