The Big Surprise on September 22

Once upon a time, back in the early 1950's, a lovely, young woman named Donna and her handsome husband, Rudy, eagerly awaited the birth of their second child. (The exact year will be withheld because...well, I'm going to be in trouble anyway for this post, so why make it worse?)

On Saturday, September 22, the mother-to-be checked into Heller Memorial Hospital in Napoleon, OH, thrilled to be there to welcome a second child, hopefully, almost as perfect and intelligent as the first one had been. (Ahem.)

Finally, the moment of birth arrived and a beautiful little girl entered the world. But what was this? What was happening? Another baby, you say? Yes! In moments, a little twin brother presented himself.

The parents had no idea that two little ones were waiting to be born. In those days, the mother-to-be was sedated during labor and of course, the father-to-be was banished to the hospital waiting room to await news of the birth. No ultrasound images gave them prior insight and, apparently, the doctor had missed the second heartbeat. Imagine the parents' astonishment when they heard that they were the parents of twins!

Their mommy and daddy decided to name the new babies Connie and Ronnie, but a wicked nurse (according to Donna) said that Ronnie wasn't a REAL name and it would have to be Ronald. And so it was recorded for posterity. The two little babies were quite small and into the incubator they went for awhile before they were allowed to come home.

 

Daddy built them a special crib that they could both sleep in and it sat in the family's living room. Mommy used to report that the little darlings took turns wailing all day and all night long.

Their antics as they grew to toddlers kept their parents and watchful big sister very busy. On one particular day, they both decided it would be fun to turn the spigot on the fuel oil tank that sat outside and then bathe themselves in the "great" smelling liquid. Mommy was not too happy with them that day.

But now they have grown up and Tuesday marks their birthday. You understand that I can not reveal a specific age, but let's just say...well, it's over a half century. How's that? If you get a chance, wish them a happy birthday. You can find them in the Elling blue book!

Happy Birthday, YOU TWO!

This post first appeared on the Elling Family News blog on September 20, 2009.