My First Five Husbands And the Ones Who Got Away

CHAPTER ONE "How the hell did we end up here?"Christopher Columbus My mother, RheuaNell, was five feet and one half inch tall. She always included that one half inch. (Hey, if you got it, flaunt it.) Bright and talented in music and dance, she won a Charleston contest when she was sixteen. Had she been younger, I suspect, my grandfather, PeePaw, would've soundly whipped her with his razor strop. He raised his family in a strict Southern Baptist tradition; no dancing allowed. Shortly thereafter, still sixteen, she graduated valedictorian of her high school class and went off to Dallas to study cosmetology to become a beauty operator. Four years later, she was working in Mrs. Rose's beauty parlor on Main Street in Healdton, Oklahoma, when she met my father, Bill, who had hurt his back in the construction trade and was managing a billiards parlor a few doors down. Six weeks later, they married. Ten months after thatFebruary 21, 1934I was born. The doctor nicknamed me "Frosty" because I had a full head of whiteblond hair, but when Mother saw me, she burst into tears. I'd been taken with forceps after she labored (at home, of course) for thirtysome hours, so my head was elongated and blue and apparently quite alarming to behold. I soon rounded out and pinked up to her satisfaction, however. Mother thought I was adorable and took photos like they were going out of style. When she was pregnant, Mother had been approached by Aunt Wenonah Sue, my father's sister, begging to let her name the baby. Mother acquiesced, but only if she could name Wenonah's firstborn, to which Wenonah agreed. Frankly, I wouldn't let anyone name my firstborn. But my mother was a sweet and compliant young lady of twenty, Wenonah's junior by a couple of years, and somewhat under the thrall of this enthusiastic and insistent sisterinlaw. My father's name was William Edwin. So when, in the fullness of time, I was born, Wenonah brought forth her marvelous name:EddiRue,a little composite of both my parents' names. Everyone just loved it. It was so cute! It had a hyphen. "EddiRue," my aunt Nonie has been heard to say, "I think you have one of the prettiest names in the family." Then Wenonah Sue married a fine fellow named Earl and had a daughter whom Mother dubbed Earla Sueno hyphenwho wisely dropped the "Earla" when she was fourteen. Because of the "Eddi" which people always misspelled "Eddie" like a boyI was sent a man's handkerchief as a high school graduation gift from Daube's Department Store, along with the other male graduates. I also received a draft notice, inviting me to come down for a physical exam. I've always thought maybe I should've gone for that physical. Some childhood friends still call me "Eddi." People who knew me as a baby call me "Frosty." My friend Lette called me "Baby Roo," my friend Jim Whittle called me "Rutabaga," Betty White calls me "Roozie," and my friend Kathy Salomone calls me "Rue-Rue." The staff at SloanKettering Cancer Center call me "Mrs. Wilson." And my husband calls me "Darling." I like them all. Each name brings forth its own era and memories. When I was in my late twenties, I bought eight used dining room chairs for a dollar each (yes, a dollar!) and set about removing the old varnish. As I applied the varnish remover, a vivid visual memMcClanahan, Rue is the author of 'My First Five Husbands And the Ones Who Got Away ', published 2007 under ISBN 9780767926768 and ISBN 0767926765.