Theme week 7, Character

Crazy Lou

“Why is my sister friends with this man!” That was my first impression of Lou. A big, loud, Italian that I initially thought may have been abusive to his wife and children. It was not long before he won me over with his obvious love of his family, the worry and responsibility masked by loud gruffness. Won me over with his loyalty to my baby sister (closer to fifty that any of us want to think about, but still the baby) that included her family and friends. Won me over with his “Let me cook you a meal.” I learned about the real man as he watched his wife die of lung cancer. A man who does not do well alone, he married a friend of mine, helped her raise her girls and his two boys. Then, in far too short a time, watched her die of breast cancer. Through it all he is still big, loud, crazy Lou. Loves big, gets mad big, lives big.

But trouble started when the California sister came home for a visit. The newly divorced, never going to do it again, had it with men, sister. The baby sister and I saw it coming from a mile away. Just like a freight train and just as impossible to stop. The California sister and Crazy Lou were madly in love before nine days had gone by. We tried to head it off. We tried to get them to listen to reason. We said it could never work. He could never make it in California. How could a federal fire arms dealer who likes to target practice from his front porch live in Southern California?

She could easily come home. After having her too far away for twenty-six years, we would love that, but what about the children? An almost adult child living with his father and a twelve year old living with her. Her boys both loved Maine. The youngest especially understands the joy of extreme changes in weather. But there is a big difference between visiting Maine in the summer and surviving winter. The in-love adults were beyond reason. Obstacles fell out of the way and there was no stopping them.

The California sister moved home with her youngest, a beautiful, sensitive, mixed race child. She moved directly into marriage with Crazy Lou, both of them ready to laugh, love and heal. She could survive most anything, she had proven that, but I had concerns about the mocha boy. I was in closer contact with his home room teacher than anybody knew, wanting to make sure he was happy and safe. Moving from upscale Yorba Linda to rural Maine would be a real culture shock for most anybody. There is a redneck element here that definitely filters to our schools. We could not let him be hurt. He seemed to be doing all right. He slowly and steadily made friends. Friends from all walks of life. He evolved from a child who sat for hours in front of games to a child who loved the outdoors and team sports. The child who had never known rough physical contact that did not involve his big brother even joined a football team. His asthma became a non issue as he breathed in the fresh Maine air.

Life in school was one thing, life at home with Crazy Lou was something else. It became sport for the nephew to shoot decorated pumpkins after Halloween and undecorated Christmas trees after Christmas - from the front porch. He and Lou even shot partridge from the back deck and sent the Springer to retrieve them. Many reasons for our new saying, “You’re not in California anymore.” The step dad that he called Coo Coo Lou turned out to be all about safety under that anything goes attitude. He taught his new charge, loudly, about four wheelers, guns and snow sleds and then let him enjoy them safely. One young visitor who mishandled a gun got such a loud lesson in safety that he has never been back. That young man did not know that it is a common saying around three towns, “That’s just Lou being Lou.” Still, I saw no sign of unhappiness in the growing nephew. He missed his brother and father, but he loved it here.
One day we stood on his porch with a view that looks over miles of trees from Brownville to the K.I. mountain range. Mocha boy takes a deep breath, smiles slightly, obviously enjoying the view and says, “I just got an e-mail from my buddy in California. He says they just planted a tree in his back yard.”

The day I really stopped worrying about the major change in this boy’s life was the day he and his mom let me read a piece of writing he had done for a school assignment. He titled it, “My Mother Married a Madman, A Love Story.” It was a wonderful story about the big changes in his life. He was happy. He was going to be fine. Crazy Lou will make sure of that.