Wednesday, December 14, 2005
JANUARY AND FEBRUARY....2001
A look back at December 2000. You have heard me mention Don Rockenbach over the past years, since our 40th high school reunion. Those of you who have come to know me are aware of my last name and have been waiting for the explanation. Don or (Rocky) would call from time to time after we discovered each other at the reunion……..at that time we had not seen each other or knew anyone who had information about one another.
Over the years he would come to mind…..and I would wonder where he was, I knew he was married but didn’t know if he had children….and I would hope that he was happy. I had always loved his family. I had done some typing for his mother at times….she was an attractive lady who drew you in immediately with her dancing eyes. She was born in Finland and had the Nordic look that I was used to with my Danish ancestry. I only knew his dad by sight…he was a hard working man and ran a dairy that was years ahead of the times around Cabool. Rocky’s older sister, Marie, and brother, Richard, were mostly at college during the time I knew the family. Both went on to have very interesting and impressive careers.
Rocky and I were in high school in Cabool our junior and senior years. He actually was in school a few months before the end of the sophomore year. We were oblivious to each other until we were seniors…….sometime during the last semester. I was his prom date and we were double dating with my best friend and a friend of his. She and I were the only two girls at the dance sporting an orchid corsage. In 1949 there weren’t orchids to be found in a small town florist shop so the boys managed to get two from Springfield for the occasion…..an 85-mile trip back then before the highway improvements. You might say we were impressed.
High school romances are sometimes brief but there was a strong connection that lasted for each of us. The years went by….I was married 20-years to the children’s father before we divorced and I later married Warren (Bear) Rosenbaum. My life with George and Bear is cataloged in the archives on my site. December 2000 I was widowed almost three years when I received a startling phone call mid-month. It was Rocky. When I heard his voice I wasn’t surprised as he had called on and off over the years after we found each other at that 40th reunion (1989).
After we said hello to each other, his first words were….. “Mary died.” It took a moment to register……..and then…. “What?” I couldn’t believe my ears. He repeated, “Mary died”…….when it began to register I flooded him with questions….. “well, how? how did it happen?…. when?” Mary had died suddenly in the night. He didn’t hear anything and she hadn’t been distressed. She died quietly while they slept. He was very emotional, of course, and I was just dumb-founded. This was about 10 days after she died and he was trying to come to grips with it. Mary had a long history of medical problems and her heart just gave up.
I attempted to console him since I had been through the loss of a mate and when we finished our conversation, I called our class treasurer to send a Christmas arrangement and to notify our classmates about Mary. Christmas was very close and other than sending a card I had no further contact with him until the evening of February 13th……..he surprised me with another call. He said he found something that made him think of me and on an impulse had mailed it to me…..he didn’t want to seem over-presumptuous so decided to call and tell me to be looking for it.
We visited for some time and then said goodbye. The next day the package came….it was Valentine’s Day and when I opened the box it was a porcelain pendant with For-Get-Me-Not’s painted on it. It was very Victorian and pretty and he had asked me to call when it came. I did call and a voice I didn’t recognize answered. “Is Rocky there?” I asked…..and the voice said, “Well, yes, but which one do you want to talk to?” It was Rocky’s son Michael so we introduced ourselves and he called his dad to the phone.
………from that moment on, romance was in the air. It all started on Valentine’s Day 2001 and now you know…….
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
Over the years he would come to mind…..and I would wonder where he was, I knew he was married but didn’t know if he had children….and I would hope that he was happy. I had always loved his family. I had done some typing for his mother at times….she was an attractive lady who drew you in immediately with her dancing eyes. She was born in Finland and had the Nordic look that I was used to with my Danish ancestry. I only knew his dad by sight…he was a hard working man and ran a dairy that was years ahead of the times around Cabool. Rocky’s older sister, Marie, and brother, Richard, were mostly at college during the time I knew the family. Both went on to have very interesting and impressive careers.
Rocky and I were in high school in Cabool our junior and senior years. He actually was in school a few months before the end of the sophomore year. We were oblivious to each other until we were seniors…….sometime during the last semester. I was his prom date and we were double dating with my best friend and a friend of his. She and I were the only two girls at the dance sporting an orchid corsage. In 1949 there weren’t orchids to be found in a small town florist shop so the boys managed to get two from Springfield for the occasion…..an 85-mile trip back then before the highway improvements. You might say we were impressed.
High school romances are sometimes brief but there was a strong connection that lasted for each of us. The years went by….I was married 20-years to the children’s father before we divorced and I later married Warren (Bear) Rosenbaum. My life with George and Bear is cataloged in the archives on my site. December 2000 I was widowed almost three years when I received a startling phone call mid-month. It was Rocky. When I heard his voice I wasn’t surprised as he had called on and off over the years after we found each other at that 40th reunion (1989).
After we said hello to each other, his first words were….. “Mary died.” It took a moment to register……..and then…. “What?” I couldn’t believe my ears. He repeated, “Mary died”…….when it began to register I flooded him with questions….. “well, how? how did it happen?…. when?” Mary had died suddenly in the night. He didn’t hear anything and she hadn’t been distressed. She died quietly while they slept. He was very emotional, of course, and I was just dumb-founded. This was about 10 days after she died and he was trying to come to grips with it. Mary had a long history of medical problems and her heart just gave up.
I attempted to console him since I had been through the loss of a mate and when we finished our conversation, I called our class treasurer to send a Christmas arrangement and to notify our classmates about Mary. Christmas was very close and other than sending a card I had no further contact with him until the evening of February 13th……..he surprised me with another call. He said he found something that made him think of me and on an impulse had mailed it to me…..he didn’t want to seem over-presumptuous so decided to call and tell me to be looking for it.
We visited for some time and then said goodbye. The next day the package came….it was Valentine’s Day and when I opened the box it was a porcelain pendant with For-Get-Me-Not’s painted on it. It was very Victorian and pretty and he had asked me to call when it came. I did call and a voice I didn’t recognize answered. “Is Rocky there?” I asked…..and the voice said, “Well, yes, but which one do you want to talk to?” It was Rocky’s son Michael so we introduced ourselves and he called his dad to the phone.
………from that moment on, romance was in the air. It all started on Valentine’s Day 2001 and now you know…….
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
