Today my mom called to wish me a happy new year. We commiserated together over what a terrible year 2016 has been.
On that general topic, I brought up the sad news about the recent passing of Debbie Reynolds, since she and my mom were pretty much contemporaries. And in return I learned some personal history that my mom had never told me until today.
It seems that my dad (who passed away some years back) always had a crush on Debbie Reynolds.
“Really??” I asked. “How much of a crush?”
My mom said that he used to tell her “You have only one rival.”
But my mother then told me that the rivalry had never really bothered her. As always, she had a very pragmatic perspective on the situation. “Fortunately,” she said, “Debbie was not available.”