Life Lessons from Two Beckys: Beauty and Reality

Becky

I have known two Becky’s in my life. Both for about the same amount of time. I adored them both but for different reasons. I certainly did not start out with an adoring feeling though. At least not with one of the Becky’s.

The Becky I remember most was an Auditor at a Bank I worked for. I knew her for about five years.  At first she seemed stand-offish and rude.  She was a staunch professional. As an auditor, I am sure she had guard rails up. They protected her from being manipulated by the less than honest.  Over time, we got to know each other. We even went out for drinks. As a result, she opened up a bit. She had just gone through a contentious divorce. She had a funny side that I saw only when we went out for drinks with the girls. It was a small group of girls she could trust. She never opened up if there were more than four co-workers present.

Becky was of average height, 5’5”. She had shoulder length brown hair and light brown eyes. Her smile was big when she flashed it. She also had a somewhat larger, awkward nose.  She dressed in brown a lot.  Beyond her looks, Becky was steady.  She was even-tempered, reserved and the consummate professional. An accounting professional so more of the quiet, introverted type.

I learned to be more reserved from this Becky. You do not need to be the star all the time. They say life’s a stage and we are all the actors. Well that may be true, sometimes you are just the stage hand, working behind the scene. You do not always have to be featured on the program.

The other Becky I knew as a child and then later in life. Becky was the definition of “Bombshell”.  As a child she was the blond hair blue-eyed girl I babysat along with her other sister and brother. They lived behind us, next to our family garden. It is very odd that I knew Becky later in life. I still know her mother to this day.

They moved away when I was about thirteen.  Becky’s father had been killed in a car accident. He fell asleep at the wheel on his way home from visiting friends up north. He was struck and killed by a state trooper when his truck crossed the line.  Coincidentally, the place up north that he was visiting became a place I would later know and visit.

You see, they knew the man I married just six years after Becky and her family moved away. That man was the eldest grandson of the people Becky’s Dad was visiting with. SMALL WORLD is all I can say.  Becky’s family stayed close to my husband’s grandparents. We would see the family occasionally at weddings and graduations. Becky was drop-dead gorgeous. The perfect features, beautiful blue eyes, a perfect figure. She was super-model material. Tragically her beauty may have been her demise. 

The second Becky I knew ended up an early casualty of the opioid epidemic. She died of an overdose in her thirties.  A beautiful life, ended way too soon. Her mother, a beauty of her own, remains heartbroken to this day.  Another twist in this anomaly of a small world. Becky’s uncle would eventually be the third husband to my husband’s aunt.  The world is a crazy twisted place. Sometimes you have to open Pandora’s Box to really see all the intricacies of life.

Life works in mysterious ways and people weave in and out of your life. You may never know the reason why they are there when they are right in front of you. Maybe it is only after loss, that you truly appreciate that you ever knew the person. That is the sad fact of life. I hope from this story you take a moment to savor the people you meet. Take a breath. Slow down and enjoy the precious minutes you have with them. You never do know when it may be the last time.