“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
When Orlando pulled outside the exit of the Walmart store at about 11:30pm, his Chrysler town and country SUV made him stand out of all the Uber rides I have had. There was no dull moment for the great store teller who kept my friends and I entertained for the ride back to our hotel in down town Cincinatti.
He was very appreciative when I told him what a a great car he had as an icebreaker. When I asked him if he was named after the famous Orlando City in Florida, he laughed it out aloud and said he was named after a famous singer of the time when he was born. His mother had a crush on the singer and since she didn’t want his father to know, she only gave him one and not both names of the singer. Several years later, he asked his father if he knew why the mother gave him the name Orlando, and the father said he didn’t know and didn’t care eiter. At that moment, I enquired if he believed in the slogan that what you don’t know doesn’t hurt you and he said it was partly true.
Orlando is a father of one and a grand pa to 5 kids already. When he got married, the intent was to have two children but after one child, he told his now divorced wife that he was done with making kids and he didn’t want more. He was concerned about his ability to provide for the kids and give them a decent life. Having been raised by a father who had 25 children all together and 11 children for Orlando’s mother alone, he told me that his father tried to provide but they didn’t have the best of life and didn’t want that to happen to his children. He feels that his won has taken his father’s genes and with 5 kids already.
One interesting thing was that the family has made every effort to get a long. When his father died, they managed to get all the 24 children to come to the funeral. They were unable to trace one who was born in foreign Asian country where the father was involved in the military. The father had a photo of the son when he was three years. They paid a private investigator and after so many attempts, nothing was achieved and so they are not sure if he is alive or not.
Orlando enjoys spending time with his grand kids. Building the family bond is important to him and will always create time for it. It’s the same reason why they invested in the attempt to trace their sibling in a foreign country even when the cost of hiring a private investigator was prohibitive in a sense.
As Orlando pulled at the entrance to our hotel, I figured that each one of us has a history. Do you know your history well and how it may shape your future?
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