Early this morning, cancer stole the life of someone precious to so many, our sweet Rosie Debertin. My heart has been heavy all day as I, along with an entire community that is comprised of Rosie's wonderful husband, children, friends, former daycare kids and their parents, and countless others, have mourned her loss. Rosie, you touched so many lives and inspired everyone--EVERYONE--with your long and unfailingly courageous fight against cancer. You made it look easy to remain positive in the face of a disease that could have so easily have broken your spirit; you truly are amazing.
Today is Top Ten Tuesday, and it seems fitting for this list to be of my top ten Rosie memories. I spent years in Rosie's excellent care as one of her daycare kids, and I have nothing but fond memories of my time spent in her home. The house where Rosie planted her roots is a place of warm, comfortable magic and, yes, even a little mystery. Which brings me to number ten...
10. Rosie's crawl space. If you were lucky, Rosie would let you play in the crawl space and paw through the Debertin family's stored items. The crawl space was a gold mine of every Babysitter's Club book in print. There were also some toys that, for some reason, weren't set out for us to play with...hmmm. Were the toys defective? Did she only let her favorite kids play with them? Did she confiscate them from naughty daycare children during quiet time? We never asked, and I know Rosie would never tell. And speaking of quiet time...
9. I have distinct memories of HATING quiet time. Who had time to nap when there was a crawl space to explore?! But alas, every day Rosie insisted that we all have quiet time. Now technically, you didn't have to sleep during quiet time; you simply had to get out of Rosie's hair so she could watch Days of Our Lives. For some reason, not only did I not want to sleep, but I also struggled with letting Rosie have her peace and quiet during that treasured timeframe every day. Sorry Rose! I remember her saying all the time that "one day, you won't get quiet time and you'll wish you had it!". Rosie, you were right. I have a 14 month old daughter. I miss quiet time almost as much as I will miss you. But let's talk a little bit more about Days of Our Lives...
8. My mother did not let us watch The Simpsons, King of the Hill, or Roseanne. They were not family-appropriate shows, she'd insist. So, you can about imagine her exasperation when her three daughters came home excitedly regaling the lives the Roman, John, Marlena and everyone else in Salem. I had grown out of quiet time by the time the episodes where Marlena was possessed and needed an exorcism were aired - what luck! I was living the dream at Rosie's...lunch, then a comfy seat in front of the TV to catch my soaps. Oh, and about lunch...
7. Breakfast and lunch at Rosie's were not just meals; they were a culinary experience! Thanks to Rose, how many families in Berthold got into the habit of serving chocolate Malt-o-Meal with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for breakfast or Rosie's noodles (egg noodles with melted butter and crushed Saltine crackers) for supper? Many are skeptical of Rosie's clever dishes...until they try them. Rosie, you knew how to make us eat anything! Well, except...
6. Bread crusts. Rosie didn't believe in trimming the crust off of bread, even for the littlest, pickiest kids; she said the crusts were the healthiest part, and you had to eat them or else. Empty threat, right? No, no. When Rosie said, "or else", she meant that you must eat the crusts or you would be locked in a house made entirely of bread crust and the only way out was to eat through the crusts. We believed her. And I'm fairly certain that in today's world of endless lawsuits and the pursuit to be perfectly politically correct, using such a tactic to get a child to eat an undesirable food would result in a daycare provider losing their license...but you know what? To this day, I eat my crusts. Thank you, Rosie.
5. Being Rosie's daycare kid meant living the good life; the Debertin's had an above-ground pool! It was huge! The water was as mysterious as the crawl space! Sometimes it was green, sometimes it was brown, and sometimes there were bat caracasses lurking below the filmy top layer of leaves. Okay, the bat caracass only happened one time, and we only swam in the pool for an hour before discovering it, and at the end of the day, I think we all had stronger immune systems because of that bat. So again -- thank you, Rosie.
4. I learned at Rosie's that you can do the Heimlich manuever on a fish. Really, you can! One day, I noticed that a fish in Rosie's aquarium had a pebble from the bottom of the tank stuck in its mouth. I managed to get Rosie to tear her eyes away from Days of Our Lives, and she was concerned about the fish's condition enough to call the local medical professional -- her neighbor, JoAnn. Thankfully, JoAnn was available to run over and assess the situation, and after consulting with a vet over the phone, she was able to successfully dislodge the pebble by skillfully administering the Heimlich manuever. Oh the life lessons I would learn at Rosie's! And while we're talking about JoAnn...
3. I learned the fine art of small town gossip from Rosie and JoAnn. Nearly as important as quiet time and Days of Our Lives, coffee time with JoAnn was a daily occurrence. Rosie and JoAnn would sit at the table and chat about the latest news in Berthold, and from these daily exchanges I learned how to properly whisper-scream, "NO!" if someone told me a juicy tidbit that seemed too good to be true, and also how to hiss, "YES!" if I had been on the sharing end of that tidbit and it was indeed true. I still laugh when I remember Rosie and JoAnn's coffee time; people will tell you gossip is bad, but I don't believe that for a minute. Gossip is what kept Rosie and JoAnn giggling at the kitchen table long after the coffee was cold, and when that daily ritual took place, it was a signal to me that all was well at Rosie's house.
2. Though I didn't appreciate this next memory when I was child, I can appreciate it as a new mother. My brother Matt and two of his classmates were born within a few months of each other, so naturally they began their daycare days at Rosie's around the same time. When a woman gives birth to triplets, people pitch in by dropping off casseroles and doing loads of laundry; in this case, the three moms simply dropped their newborn boys off (in addition to their other children, and the other families' children!), leaving dear Rosie to fend for herself with "her" triplets. And Rosie, of course, did just fine. I can't imagine how she did it; that Rosie really was magic. She also potty-trained all three of those boys by giving them each their own small rubber dinosaur to place in the toilet and, ahem, aim for when they needed to go potty. Rosie held on to those dinosaurs and gave them to the boys when they graduated from high school. Rosie, you knew exactly how to make people smile.
1. Rosie's family was and is as important to her daycare kids as Rosie herself. For a few summers, Rosie's daughter Tamara babysat all five of us. A natural at babysitting our unruly crew from day one, Tamara truly inherited Rosie's knack for childcare - she only dropped baby Daniel on his head once! I also have fond memories of hiding behind Rosie's recliner and teasing Tanya's boyfriend Dan by calling him Codfish -- for the record, Tanya, that was Kayla's idea, and several years and three children later, you still have Codfish by your side, so he must have known that those annoying kids at his girlfriend's house wouldn't be around forever. Kyle and Betsy were kind enough to jump start my career as a wedding punch pourer at their beautiful reception; for that, I am eternally grateful! And RD...first Rosie's husband, then our shop teacher, and always, always a sweet family friend. You treated Rosie like a queen. Thanks for putting up with Rosie's daycare kids invading your home each day, Debertins. I think the world of you all.
I bet anyone who knows Rosie and her family can easily come up with their own top ten Rosie memories. Enjoy every moment of reliving those memories. Rosie, we will keep you in our hearts forever.
