Gloria and Jon

Gloria and Jon don’t know each other, and they likely never will. They represent for me the two extremes of political divisiveness here and everywhere. Gloria is my landlady and a liberal Democrat. Jon is a former landlord from Valle Escondido. I rented his basement apartment a couple of times in years past, which was beautiful.

And then there’s Jon. Early on, I connected, via WhatsApp, with Jon and neighbors in Valle Escondido, asking if they wanted to get together for a night out. Initially, everyone was in. Then I realized I forgot to add the new neighbor, Alex. Alex bought Adrianna and Charlie’s house in Valle Escondido a couple of years ago. Alex is across the street from Jon and next to Carmen and Emilio. (Last year, I spent two months at Adrianna and Charlie’s new place. ). Anyhow…when I apologized and added Alex to the group, all but Adrianna dropped out. What the…

So I contacted Jon. It went something like this:

“I have decided not to associate with people of socialist/communist view. I am tired of arguing with irrational idiots who know nothing of history. I have a lot of followers. At the same time lots of assholes of the progressive view looking to insult me. Looking to restrict my speech.”

I suggested then just me, Adrianna and Charlie.

“Good, four people. No fags. You a fag?”

“Not last time I checked.”

“Okay, then you can come. “

So, I’m walking up to Valle Escondido for lunch today. Should be lovely.

I had a very nice lunch today with Jon, Mimi, Rosa and Graciano. Jon made a wonderful linguini and sauce as well as a salad and garlic bread. It was nice seeing everyone again. I have discovered that my Spanish has improved. Mimi and Rosa are two of the very rare opportunities I have to speak Spanish here. Mimi is Jon’s cleaning person, and Rosa is his nurse. Rosa tended to Jon years ago after an experience with E. coli. Jon was in bad shape. Rosa saved him. They have a very strong bond, as he also has with Mimi and Graciano. They have quite a history. The people are Jon’s chosen family here, and they depend on each other. Rosa just graduated from nursing school, thanks to Jon’s financial support.

We missed Raoul today. Raoul was Jon’s neighbor. He became acutely ill about six months ago and was returned to the U.S. Today when I arrived, I asked Jon if he had heard anything about Raoul, as my last communication with him and his wife was just before I left home. Jon’s response: “Raoul…oh yeah, he’s dead.” Boing!!

Raoul arrived in Panama a number of years ago with stage IV prostate cancer. He chose to forego treatment in the US and instead live out his remaining years in “paradise,” and that’s exactly what he did.

One back home today, I had time to spend working on my cards before the Dupies Zoom.