Will the Real Mrs. Sellers Please Stand Up?

Mary Lou in 1964

My family was "blended" decades before that became a common term.  In 1968, and maybe a little before and/or a little after (I don't know the exact dates), not only was my father on his second marriage, but his first wife and his daughter from that marriage (whom I always have called simply my sister) were living with my family in Southern California.  For a while my sister and I attended the same elementary school.

Mary Lou, the aforementioned first wife, told me a story about a contest at the elementary school.  It was for the "best mother" in the school.  One day she was at the house when the phone rang.

"May I please speak to Mrs. Sellers?"

Mary Lou answered, "Which one?"

This threw off the woman from the school a bit, but she recovered enough to say, "The one with a daughter at Rorimer Elementary School."

And again Mary Lou answered, "Which one?"

The woman on the other end of the phone became a little more disconcerted.  "The one who submitted an entry for the best mother contest?"

You guessed it:  "Which one?"

By that point the woman from the school was totally confused.  Yes, my sister and I had both submitted our mothers for the contest.  After a few more details, Mary Lou discovered that she had won the contest.  (I guess my sister, being five years older, could write a better essay.)

Funny, but now that I think about it, it's interesting that Mary Lou told me that story, but my mother didn't.

I'm posting this story in honor of Mary Lou's birthday, which was yesterday, October 16.  If she were still with us she would be 78 years old.