Selling My Books on the Streets of Brooklyn 5/15

Thanks to the kind lady who bought children's books for her lovely young daughter, an avid reader. Arlynn's vast donation keeps giving. As we were riding to her treatment Friday, I learned more of her history. She was unable to bear children, so she decided to adopt. This was a decade before the accident that caused the neurological problem with her legs. It was a long, difficult road. She decided to go outside the country, as the red tape involved in the U.S. was ridiculous. At first she wanted a little girl. Several possibilities fell through, despite payoffs and gifts. She was making tons of money in accounting back then, the '70's. She helped do the books on one of Englebert Humperdinck's tours, which garnered six million, huge at the time. When she learned a male child was available, she traveled to Bogota, Colombia - on her own. It was a dangerous place. Foreigners were the targets of kidnappers. On one occasion, her guide had her lay down in the back seat, not only because of the threat but because it was considered indecent for a woman to ride up front with a man who was not her husband or betrothed. She was invited to the house of an American official. There were shotgun toting security guards front and rear. Anyway, as she was waiting in the orphanage to see the child, a little girl approached and asked if Arlynn was going to be her mommy. Arlynn, who speaks Spanish, said no, but that the girl's mother was going to be on the next plane. She didn't know what else to say. She regrets not taking that child with her too. She fell in love with Jaime on the spot. He was two years old and weighed only 16 pounds. As soon as she brought him home, his ear began bleeding. She went into a panic, fearful she was going to lose him. Fortunately, it was only an abscess. Arlynn believes the adoption broke up her marriage. Her husband never took to Jaime, nor did her family. I said said she was better off without them. It is amazing how despicably some people will act. Jaime is now a security officer in the Coast Guard, healthy as a lion, training for a triathlon. Arlynn always tells me I'm due success because of the mitzvahs I've done for her. I think it's hogwash, as she is paying me, but there's no doubt in my mind that she is going to heaven because of the adoption. That was a real mitzvah.
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