Aunt Betty

Life is fragile.

My aunt, Betty Wyatt, fought our ultimate fate for several years after being diagnosed with cancer in 2003. Funny thing, though. She caught a cold. Handicapped with one lung from the '03 cancer, it was too much to bear.

Betty died last night about 8:15.

She was from Tazewell, but moved with my grandfather's brother, Leon, to Miamisburg, Ohio, after marrying. We'd visit them often in the summers. I still remember going to the Ohio State Fair in Columbus one year to see Crystal Gayle.

After I was finally able to come home from the hospital as a newborn, my grandmother was afraid to feed me because I was so small (2 pounds). Undeterred, Betty, who was home visiting, grabbed my tiny bottle and went to work. I must have done OK.

My favorite part of visiting Miamisburg was going in the mornings to Betty's brother Lynn's diner, the Koffee Kup. I'd play the Statler Brothers on the jukebox in between bites of pancakes and eggs. Lynn would stand in one spot behind the counter and talk. He, too, is gone now.

I loved Aunt Betty in that special way that you attach yourself to certain relatives. I loved her and Uncle Leon so much in fact that my parents used to trick me into eating certain foods I didn't like by saying they came from Ohio. It worked every time.

I'm thankful Betty is no longer suffering, but will miss her more than I have it within my power to say. Memories of her, and of summer trips to Miamisburg, are quite poignant and bittersweet on this Friday morning.

They will remain so.