Painted rocks, orphans & more orphans: let’s have more of one, less of the other

Friday morning I was downstairs in the lobby of my apartment building, feeling a little frustrated as one of the other tenants was trying to engage me in what I considered a silly argument.  I just wanted to add some money to my laundry card.

(We have a laundry vending machine in the package delivery room off the lobby, where you can add money to your National Laundry card.) 

Anyway, Joel is a single man on my floor, he works from home.  (He likes to remind you of that every chance he gets too.)  He’s 53, never married.  He was waiting for a courier, and said my friend Lida was down there earlier, waiting for her mom to pick her up.  Joel said he wished he had a mom.  When I asked him what he meant by that, he said “I’m an orphan.” 

When I expressed sorrow and asked if he grew up in a children’s home, or with relatives or in a foster home, he said “It wasn’t like that at all.  I was raised by both my parents, but my dad died in 1995 and my mother died 7 years ago.  I’m an orphan now.”

I said “Um… I thought to be an orphan you had to lose both parents before the age of 18?”  He said “Untrue, and if I had my phone I’d prove it.  When you go back upstairs, google it.”  I said “I believe you, but I lost my own dad in 2001 and my mom in 2004.  I don’t consider myself an orphan.”  Joel said “I was an only child.  Were you?”   You got me there, Joel. 

(Strangely, the topic of orphans would come up again later.) 

Just then, my friend Lida breezed into the lobby.  I said “Hi Lida, I thought you left with your mom?”  Lida said “Doug, Doug!  I had to go back upstairs I forgot something!  Guess where I’m going today!”  I shrugged my shoulders.  She said “To the park, to plant some rocks!”  I made a confused face and she burst out laughing and grabbed my forearm with both her hands.  She said “Don’t worry I’ll explain!”

I’ve written about Lida before, I met her the first week I was here and we quickly became friends.  She’s 41 years old and cute as a button.  She has amblyopia (what some people refer to as lazy eye, her left one) and the mind of a second grader.  But she has a studio on the floor above mine, lives alone and takes care of herself nicely. 

She has to follow certain rules though, like not leaving the premises on her own or turning on her stove.  She has a microwave, electric kettle and George Foreman grill to do her cooking.  She works 4 days a week at Giant Eagle supermarket as a bagger. 

Lida went on to tell me that her & her mom were going to North Park to put painted rocks under various bushes and around the roots of trees. People who found them were free to admire them or take them home or plant them somewhere else.  Lida fished out a freezer bag of red stones from her Wizard of Oz tote and handed it to me.  She said “Can you guess what these are?”  I said “Um… strawberries?” 

She burst out laughing and said “No, try again!  They’re ladybugs!”  My heart wilted.

Later when I was talking to my friend Danielle, I shared the Lida story and added “I couldn’t help but notice Lida’s pants.  She was wearing those yoga pants that are like a second skin, with little white Snoopys all over them.  She has a really cute figure.  What if some shady character spotted her in the park and sexually assaulted her and got her pregnant?  I just saw Mastriano on the news this morning.”

If you don’t live in the state of Pennsylvania, Doug Mastriano recently won the GOP candidates seat for the race for governor this November.  He’s a formidable character, the very definition of frightening right wing extremism.

The faces of good vs awful:  Josh Shapiro, our Democratic nominee on the left & Doug Mastriano on the right. 

Mastriano promises to ban ALL abortions in Pennsylvania if elected, even in cases of rape or incest.  “No exceptions!”

Getting back to my question, Danielle said “She’d be forced to have the baby.” I said “What if you were assaulted?  You mean to tell me Josh is going to sit there and watch his wife’s belly grow with her attacker’s baby for nine months?” 

Danielle said “I have the resources to go to Canada and get an abortion.  Lida will be expected to hand hers over to some nice Christian couple.” 

I said “And what if the baby has a lazy eye and is born a special needs baby like Lida?”  Danielle said “It would probably wind up in an orphanage.  We’ll probably see more of those springing up in the next 20 years.”

My friend is probably right.  And the Democrats will wind up fighting to get funding for them, while the Republcans tell us to take a hike.