A Most Surprising Woman

Those of you have have been reading my posts by now realize that I had what could, at best, be described as a difficult home life.

<Rod Serling’s voice begins>

“Imagine if you, a house where all of the inhabitants would prefer to come home to anywhere but there.

“A house in the country on a quiet road.

“A house filled with mayhem, malarkey, and maybe even…

“Murder.”

Yep, that is where I grew up. My older brother and sister left as soon as they could. And, then, my Dad left too after he found Mom in bed with the neighbor from down the street.

Younger me thought those sounds coming from the barn were the horses but if so, why was Mom showing off our horses to men in the evening when Dad was off fishing.

Throw in a huge helping of mystical mayhem from the fact that our house was haunted. And, yes, I saw them and would swear on a stack of Bibles (if we had one in the house!).

And Mom’s weird-ass seances made it even stranger. Imagine coming home from school and find strangers wandering the house burning sage and calling on spirits.

“I am calling on the spirits to answer me!” she would yell at the top of her voice just as I was trying to shut the door so my friends would not see what was going on.

That is why I had few, if any expectations when I first met Rosemary, the woman who would become his second wife.

I knew Dad well enough to know that he had started seeing Rosemary after he divorced Mom. He just wasn’t the type to have an affair.

On the day in question, he picked us up from the house in his old Ford van and drove us down to her house in the suburbs of Columbus.

On the way he said, ” I want to introduce you to someone.”

“Who?” my little sister and asked at the same time.

“Well, I have been seeing someone and I want you to meet her. Her name is Rosemary. We are going to be staying there this weekend.”

“Are you sleeping with her?” Lisa asked.

“Anyway, she and I have been dating and I want you kids to get to know her and her kids.” he humphed.

“She has kids? How many? ” I asked.

“A boy and a girl both around your ages.”

About that time, we hauled into a subdivision straight off some TV show. And them we pulled up in front of a house that almost looked like something off “The Brady Bunch”. Seriously, I expected to see Alice open the door to let us in.

Instead, a beautiful woman in glasses opened the door and hugged my Dad.

AND THE WORLD CHANGED!

The only way to describe Rosemary is to say now only was she kind, intelligent, sweet and caring but she was NORMAL!

Having her enter our lives was like watching Carol Brady step into the “Twilight Zone” and immediately set the world to right.

Or to put it another way, imagine your mother is Godzilla and the courts have suddenly placed you with Mary Tyler Moore!

I was immediately enchanted and remain so to this day 45 years later!

I LOVE YOU, ROSEMARY!