Home Run with the Stars

Are there days you daydream?  Your mind wondering around looking to escape?  Well I have been in that state the last few days.  Did you miss me?  I know you wonder where I have been or up to.  Well I was living the life of a star.  Well in my head at least. 

Image by Kemon01 via FlickrYou see, I was lost in my daydreams, associating with Jolting Joe and America's Sexiest Woman.  I finally have taken the book, The Long Vigil, away from Dear Hubby.  He had been hogging it.  And now I am getting to float through it myself.  Jerome Charyn writes about Joe DiMaggio focusing on his life after retiring from baseball.  It was then that he had a nine month marriage to Marilyn Monroe.  What a picture they presented to the American public.  But as we all know, photos are not always real life.  Most of the time they are posed.

Cover of Joe and MarilynWell that is more of what life was for Joe and Marilyn.  Sadly it was a set up marriage to boost Marilyn's sinking image due to her infamous nude photos cropping up.  And more so, that Joe loved her deeply in his quiet way.  Joe, raised in an All-American setting, being the All-American baseball player, thought he was getting the All-American gal for the All-American life.  Not seeing that wounded Norma Jean would be there one moment and sultry screen star Marilyn there the next.  One role that Marilyn was not going to fit into was the housewife sitting home caring for her dear hubby.  It is one thing to wear the pearls and heels on screen and other to live a life drab of color in reality.  

But while reading The Long Vigil I had managed to daydream of a different life too.  Being the one who loves hearth and home, I could sympathize with Joe and his desires to take it easy for once.   I was feeling the lump that appeared in my throat when he found out that Marilyn filed for a divorce.  And more so the cut to the heart when she died before they were able to get back together again.  Joe was a quiet stoic man who had lived a life of hard work in the public eye.  He wanted to be able to have the normal life that most of us try to escape.  Sadly it would be one that left him heartbroken and lonely for 37 years. 

I once again thank Jerome for sharing his books with me.  And Nicole at Tribute Books for keeping me abreast of what books are out there.  I did not and never receive any money for these reviews.  Just the pleasure of reading which I am so fond of.