Patty Sullivan - Betty Whites Pearls of Wisdom: Life Lessons from a Beloved American Treasure

Betty Whites Pearls of Wisdom

Life Lessons from a Beloved American Treasure

Patty Sullivan

Betty Whites Pearls of Wisdom

Life Lessons from a Beloved American Treasure

Copyright 2022 by Patty Sullivan

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided by USA copyright law.

This book is intended for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be used for the sole basis for medical or health decisions, nor should it be construed as advice designed to meet the particular needs of an individuals situation.

Published by Forefront Books.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022914869

Print ISBN: 978-1-63763-164-5

E-book ISBN: 978-1-63763-165-2

Cover Design by Bruce Gore, Gore Studio, Inc.

Interior Design by Bill Kersey, KerseyGraphics

Jacket front photos by Getty Images/Angela Weiss and Unsplash.Com

In loving tribute to Betty White: my mentor, my inspiration, and my surrogate mother

F OR MORE THAN FIFTY YEARS , Ive been fortunate to love two remarkable women: my wife, Patty, and the incomparable Betty White. Betty is not only the person who played matchmaker and brought Patty and me together, but she also wonderfully named herself Gram III to our children, Blythe and Sully. She has always thought of us as her Sullivans, and we have been blessed to be considered special by this comedy icon and national treasure. Bettys role in my life was obvious. We were both in show business and completely enjoyed sharing every aspect of our careers and the people we worked with. My daughter, Blythe, was passionate about horses, and Betty nourished that passion. She spent a number of Sundays joining us at Blythes horse shows, cheering our daughter on while raising her awareness to the needs of animals along the way. Our son, Sully, is a major-league surfer, and Betty was committed to making him responsible for preserving the ocean that has provided him with so much pleasure.

Although we were all impacted by Americas Golden Girl, it is Patty who has brought Bettys pearls of wisdom to these pages, allowing you to understand the unique bond of love and mutual appreciation developed over many years between these two extraordinary women. Let me hasten to note that this is not in any way a biographical profile of Betty White or a tell-all by an insider. What is offered is insight into a unique person who goes far beyond the wonderful actress who brought such joy to the American public. The Betty seen here reveals a private person who chose her Sullivans as a family to love and nurture. Bettys pearls of wisdom have both changed and enriched our lives. The holes in our hearts at her loss will never truly heal, but the pearls that are expressed in this loving work are memories that will never dim with the passage of time.

Tom Sullivan

Mother of Pearl gets its name from the fact that it is the iridescent lining of shell, where pearls can grow. Mother of Pearl connects you to beauty, provides comfort, caring, delight, gentleness, love, peacefulness, and solace. Pearls are used to heighten intuition, psychic sensitivity, and imagination. These healing stones have been used to protect from negative influence and transmute negative energy. It tends to be highly protective and a particularly potent stone of protection for children. It is connected with family, in particular motherhood, which gives it the name the mothering stone.

S HELLS HAVE BEEN A PART of the ocean for eons, and I have always been particularly fond of mother-of-pearl. There is something about its earthy iridescence that instantly draws my eye and my attention. The shades of cream, silver, blue, and green have a patina that is magical, and I find that when I come across a frame, serving dish, or a bracelet or a pair of earrings that have a touch of mother-of-pearl, it is hard to resist.

Coming from the sea where its luster and sheen have been cultivated through the seasoning of time, it is a gift from nature that only the Creator of all things could provide. That said, mother-of-pearl is housed in a rather rough and unattractive shell that you must open in order to discover the beauty insidea notion that is rather symbolic of life experiences. To embrace the beauty of lifethe fullness of the landscape and the deeper meaning to the gift of our existencewe have to be engaged. We have to care enough to open the shell and take a deeper look to discover the beauty inside.

Stop for a moment and take in the majestic landscape that surrounds you. Appreciate the rain and a garden. Observe how the sky changes as the sun sets on another day. Watch the lightning and hear the thunder. Be amazed at the voices of wisdom that offer your life a richer and a more meaningful experience. Open the mollusk that surrounds the exquisite gifts of life that have perhaps gone unnoticed. When you are in tune with what you see, hear, taste, touch and smell, an amazing amount of joy comes into view.

In my life, I have had the great privilege of knowing Betty White Ludden for more than fifty-three years. In ways neither of us could have known, she was that iridescent lining, that Mothering Stone providing her wisdom, her pearls, helping me to grow.

Sharing some very special and intimate time with herparticularly our trips to her home by the sea in Carmelwas both a joy and a blessing. My relationship with Betty touched my life in ways that I want to put into words to honor this unique and amazing woman whom Ive cherished all my adult life.

While being an icon of her time, an award-winning actress, an advocate for the environment, and, most importantly to her, an advocate for the health and well-being of animals, Betty White taught me so much as an extraordinary mentor, friend, and second mother.

One of her most important maxims, passed on to her by her parents, Tess and Horace, was to taste every minute. Not only taste, but savor. From a very young age she was taught to study nuances, to be quiet, and to let moments unfold. She often shared that her parents would take her to the zoo, and together they would sit for hours and watch what the animals were doingtheir behaviors. How did they communicate? What were they thinking? She was forever fascinated by these observations.

I sometimes wonder if these were the fascinations that led to her instinctual feel for the timing and delivery of lines, her love of comedy and double entendre, which became the Betty White stamp.

On a visit to her home in Carmel, while taking a break from a competitive game of Scrabble, we were looking out at the sea from her picture window in the family room and saw a whale that had come into the cove. It was near dusk, and while the sun had already set, leaving behind the blues, purples, and greys across the sky, we both stood there in wonder as we witnessed this massive creature breachfive timesas he found his way back out to deeper waters. Betty had seen it many times, but for me it was a first, and it was a phenomenal experience to share with the woman who had taught me and my husband and children to taste every minute. In that special moment, not only did I taste, but I savored every second of this special sighting, this miracle that happens hundreds of times a day somewhere in the world.