“Just call me Jimmy,” said Jaime Rodriguez. We met at Sherwin-Williams Paint store a couple of weeks ago — both of us customers, waiting to be waited upon. It became very apparent that he was well-known by the sales people — he is a paint contractor. Since we have a rental property that needs some work, I got his name and number, and we met a few days ago at the property site so he could give me an estimate.

During that meeting, Jimmy expressed how well he had been doing before “9/11”, but that things were beginning to get a lot better now. I also shared that my plastic surgeon had said the same thing — guess people would rather use their money for essentials than to spend it on elective surgery when times are hard. I explained the reason that I was at the plastic surgeon — to have my nose replaced that had been partially removed due to skin cancer surgery.

Jimmy told me that he had lost his mother to cancer when he was only 7 months old. She could have had treatment that probably would have saved her life, but she had to make a choice between having treatment or having the baby she was carrying. She made the choice to have Jimmy.

He said that he values life, knows that he was put here to accomplish something, and thanks God every day for his good life. He said as a child, they were very poor. He had 2 sets of clothes and one pair of shoes to wear to school. At age 15, he prayed and asked for direction. He said his prayers were heard. He received encouragement and many people along the way helped him to make a good living and to have a good life. He had tears in his eyes as he spoke of his mother and the sacrifice she made for him.

What an impact this had on me — I think about the difference in this mother’s decision about the life she carried versus other would-be mothers’ decisions to end the life they carry . . . for whatever reason. I can’t understand the liberal view on abortion — how hypocritical their views (i.e., save the salamanders at Barton Springs and stop the heartbeat of a fetus).

God bless Jimmy’s mother!