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| Betty Keira wasn't expecting THAT plot twist! |
The upshot is that I found myself in nearly the exact same situation as the heroine of the Essie Summers book I've been reading this week. (Not By Appointment is the only clue I will offer.) And let me tell you, I had been feeling the plot construct to have been a little far-fetched. The bummer is that now I don't think I'll be able to pick this novel again without remembering some extremely uncomfortable feelings.
So I was wondering if this has ever happened to you--the reading along of a favorite book, arriving at the meet-cute or the unlikely plot device, the sudden prick of awareness that you've been there before... The Twilight Zone.
Oh Dear, I think I know what happened. Unless your husbands twin died and you have to raise his kids. Golly am I curious, could you email me the details?
ReplyDeleteI have had that experience, but I can't remember any of the details or which book, just the feeling.
"Strumming my fate with his fingers, singing my life with his words..."
Two books that made me feel a commonality were "Maria" the 2nd book by Maria Von Trapp and 'A Rose for Maggie'.
Having just read two plot summaries of Not by Appointment, I really feel for you. I don't think there's a single element in that book I would wish on anyone, but especially a Founding Betty.
ReplyDeleteBut to answer your question, yes, in a limited sort of way. When my mother died in 1997 I needed a place to go for Christmas. Forget my family (no need for details) so I went to England and had Christmas with Betty Henry's family.
He hadn't married in the nearly 18 years since I'd first fallen in love with him, but I dunno, he'd not exactly gotten over that whole passive thing.
Anyway, I came home and I was reading the latest Susan Elizabeth Phillips when I got to the Dawning Realization and thought, "YES! That's what it feels like! I'm still in love with him."
Of course NOTHING else about that particular novel was consistent with my life, but it's the same sort of sensation.
Betty Mary...a much catharic email will follow. Let's just say that my faith in geographically determined ward boundaries has been shaken.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry you have had such a shake up, Keira. Our lives are complex enough without unmereted complications.
ReplyDeleteWhile I can't pinpoint such a deja vu event, I have had that experience of "I've been here/done this before."
I can also tell you that after sitting down with my husband's step family's family tree, I realize that those bizzare seemingly contrived family relationships Essie is so famous for do occur!
I think Not by Appointment was my first Essie Summers, how sad that it is ruined for you.
ReplyDeleteAt the risk of getting very convoluted, we've had those things happen in our family more than once. My sister Jean died when she was 25 - her two young daughters (after much wrangling) ended up with their dad and stepmother, who, by HIS mother's own admission only wanted the Social Security check the girls came with. The girls were eventually shut away from our family (and his mother) completely and many years later, my other sister's nephew-by-marriage married the girls' half brother. The wedding was the first any of us had seen the girls as adults. Not that it made any difference...and the marriage was short-lived.
ReplyDeleteHugs, Keira.
Betty Cindy -- Do I understand this right? Your sister Jean's daughters -- your nieces -- ended up with their dad & stepmother, who didn't let the rest of the family (your family or his mom) see the girls.
ReplyDeleteThen, later, another sister (which is to say, another of your nieces' maternal aunts) had a nephew by marriage (her husband's nephew) who married Jean's ex-husband's second wife's son by her first marriage?
Of all of that, it's the gay marriage that I'm finding hard to believe. Not that there's anything wrong with that...!
Oh gee - I knew I'd mess that up. It's my sister Clara's NIECE!! who married Junior - the child of the girls' father and stepmother. (They had a "Yours, Mine & Ours," kind of family.)
ReplyDeleteme<><
LOL Betty Cindy, you sound like me trying to explain how my mother's first cousin ended up as my Aunt, too. My children were appalled. Today on the way to see my mom in the care facility, (she's 95, in lots of pain and probably in her last days, but one never can predict), they asked me about Gramma's brothers and sisters. My uncle was a very shy man and he always hung out with his older brother and this girl cousin who was about 3 years older. Bro 1 was secretly married (to a Lebanese lady,oh my), and he was banished for awhile when it was reveled a year later. That left Bro 2 and Cousin keeping company. Pretty soon the family and priest said you can't be doing this. The couple were happy with status quo, but the priest decided since she's not likely to marry at this point (over 30) and Bro 2 is not a social person, that they should apply for a dispensation from the church on the prohibition for cousins to marry. So they did, got it, and were married in the Beautiful cathedral with the big rose window in Covington KY. It was the closest state where cousins can marry.
ReplyDeleteOf course, my kids were grossed out(mind you these are 2 boys in their 20's and a 15 y.old girl.) It's never been a weird thing for me. They had two girls, beautiful normal women, who have kids and grandkids now.
This was back in the 1920's, just shows you how the 'normal' families around us can be made of many interesting stories.
Betty Mary -- Some people were squicked out when Betty Henry and I were married, and we're second cousins, which means we share 1/64th genetic material. (His grandmother and mine were sisters.) Never mind that we grew up on separate continents and didn't meet until we were both 15.
ReplyDeleteSome people are silly.
Anyhoo, it's all worked out great, as I've managed to shed my sibs (with no objection from any of them, it's to be noted) but kept Betty Henry as an ex-husband, cousin, and best friend. Win-win!
M.