All Aboard the Gratitude Express! Next Stop – Betsy Matteis

The Gratitude Tour Continues – Stop #7: Betsy Matteis

Hi, everyone, and welcome aboard the Gratitude Tour Express. Today, our train is rolling north to Woodstock, Georgia, where my longtime friend Elizabeth—Betsy—Matteis has made her home.

Of the seven Gratitude Award recipients so far, Betsy is the one whose story with mine stretches back the farthest. We met as kids at Tropical Elementary School, but our real friendship began during my seventh-grade year at Riviera Junior High in 1977–78. A shared love of Star Wars (and later Star Trek) forged a bond that carried us through adolescence and into adulthood. We even overlapped at South Miami Senior High—she graduated with the Class of ’82, and I followed with the Class of ’83, just like my character Jim Garraty.

In our twenties, Betsy played a quiet but essential role in my early success at Miami-Dade Community College. Before I mastered the Metrobus routes, she was one of the friends who drove me to campus. She took notes for me in ENC‑1101 and PSY‑1000 and even attempted the Herculean task of tutoring me in algebra. (Alas, algebra and I remain sworn enemies; I withdrew from that class after one week.)

For many years—until she moved out of state in the 2000s—Betsy was part of a close-knit circle that included my best friend, Richard de la Peña. The three of us shared countless movie outings: Indiana Jones, Star Trek, the original Star Wars trilogy, and classics like Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan, and The Hunt for Red October. We also endured our fair share of cinematic disasters—Santa Claus: The Movie and Bolero were walkouts, and Superman IV tested our patience. The last film I remember watching with Betsy and Richard was Star Trek: Insurrection—not terrible, not great, but certainly memorable for the company.

Life eventually scattered us. I last saw Betsy around 1999 or 2000, and she later moved first to Alabama, then to Georgia. For a time, Richard and I even feared she had passed away. Thankfully, the magic of Facebook brought us back into each other’s orbit in the 2010s, and we’ve stayed in touch ever since.

In 2018, Betsy read the original edition of Reunion: A Story and left this generous review:

5.0 out of 5 stars – High school memories!
Reunion: A Story is a sweet, sometimes bittersweet story of days gone by… Mr. Diaz-Granados captures the awkwardness of young love and how it can influence the rest of your life.

Betsy earned her stop on the Gratitude Express because she purchased all three of my Jim Garraty books—Reunion: A Story, Reunion: Coda, and Comings and Goings – The Art of Being Seen. She’s only had time to read and review the first one so far, but she assures me the rest of the saga is waiting patiently on her nightstand.

Friendships like ours—spanning decades, distance, and the unpredictable turns of life—are part of what inspired the emotional core of the Garratyverse. Honoring Betsy here feels like closing a small, meaningful circle.

As the Gratitude Tour continues, I remain deeply thankful for readers like her who have supported my work in both large and quiet ways. If you’ve enjoyed the Garraty stories—or if you’re just joining the journey—your purchase or review helps keep this little literary train rolling down the tracks. Every new reader, every shared thought, every posted review makes a difference.

And who knows… the next stop on the Gratitude Express might be yours.