David and his brother are the two oldest grandchildren.  David’s brother Paul was the first to marry and he chose a sweet girl named Beth.  David followed suit by also marrying a girl named Beth.  For the past ten years Beth and I have managed to navigate the tricky waters of having the EXACT same name (in fact our middle names are the same too).  I can only describe my sister-in-law as just shy of angelic.  I cannot imagine her doing anything purposefully malicious or cruel.  Everything about her spirit exudes kindness and gentility.  I suppose if I had married at a younger age I might have felt the insecurity of comparison or competition, but I haven’t.  Beth and I are as similar as we are different.  Each of us unique in our strengths and weaknesses.  We’ve grown to love and support each other and relish the honor of sharing each others name.

David’s cousin Eric will be the next male grandchild to marry. Eric is a quiet gentle soul and he has selected as his future bride a ‘Beth’.   This has meant a long string of Beth jokes and shaking of heads.  It is now difficult at restaurants, parties, gatherings to explain that indeed there are three Beths in the room and that it is important to be VERY specific regarding to whom you are speaking. I feel as if all this Beth power should somehow give us the ability to bend time, save the world, or solve the mysteries of the universe. Alas, it has only granted us the power to make really bad jokes.

The new Beth (or Beth3 as we like to call her) and I instantly bonded.  I dragged her to watch “Twilight” with me in the movie theater and as the credits rolled she quietly said, “You promise me to not tell anybody in the world that I saw this movie”.  Aaah, yes, you will round out the Tri-Beth-ca very nicely.