Betty, 1943
The idea for the blog came relatively easily. Finding a half-decent domain name was nearly impossible. I spent days trying to match words about fitness, wellness, balance and moderation. I ended up with some very long and really quite awful URLs. I’d even gone so far as to play with an online band name generator, hoping to come up with a random but catchy combination of words. Somehow, though, “Violet Hedgehog” or “Octagonal Newsprint” just didn’t seem to fit.
I sat at dinner, discussing it with my 3-year-old son. For those who don’t know E, my Tiny Kitchen Assistant, he’s 3 going on 33, so a work-related discussion isn’t as out of place as you might expect. I told him that I was going to write a blog. He nodded. “You’d be a good blogger, Mommy.”
“Do you even know what a blog is?” I asked.
“It’s words and pictures on the computer,” he said, surprising me. “I’ll read it when I learn how. You can write about blueberries. I love blueberries.”
So I offered him the chance to discuss domain names. Violet Hedgehog? “Noooo!” Octagonal Newsprint? “What? No!” AllTheGoodURLsAreTaken.com? “No, that’s ridiculous!” One after another: “No, no, no, no.” What Would Betty Do? “No… wait. That one. I like that one. The Betty one.”
He stuffed another piece of ham into his mouth. “Who’s Betty?” I told him that the band name generator had kicked out the name, but that Betty was actually my grandmother.
“Did she run?” he asked. Well, yes, actually, she was a high school track star.
“Did she cook?” Yes, every Sunday night she’d cook dinner for the entire family.
“Did she know about healthy foods?” She might have gotten most of her nutritional guidance from Woman’s World magazine, but she certainly spent a lot of time critiquing everyone’s dietary habits.
“That’s the one,” he declared. “The blog will be called Betty. Now we can talk about something else.”
And that’s how Betty came to be.
Cooking
Fitness
Health