Intoxicating Gratitude

Wow. Debi Faris-Cifelli won the lottery jackpot. Now, I don't know Debi and you probably don't either as greater Los Angeles is a huge conglomeration of living souls. Even if I did know her, I don't think I'd be on the telephone or her door step angling for a favor.

Why not? Partly because I'm not that kind of person but more so because of what she is going to do with the money (about $9,000,000 after taxes says the Associated Press article), almost as much as some CEOs and athletes. What makes Debi so special? Well, I suppose you could call her an angel (not the celestial kind but a human one).

Debi has a passion for giving abandoned babies a decent burial. She has setup a cemetery for babies called Garden of Angels where she has buried some 70 babies since 1996. California, one of 46 states, has a law that a mother has three days in which to abandon an infant without fear of prosecution. This encourages them to drop an infant off at a fire station or hospital rather than in trash cans or alleys.

Debi and her husband will share some of the bounty with their seven children but most will go toward her crusade which involves not only giving a decent burial but to educating the public, teens and police officers and parents. The couple have many ideas what to do in the future including annual scholarships named after abandoned babies and a shelter for pregnant teens.

Debi said that the law works but works better when there is a campaign to go along with it. When someone finds a dead baby in the three-county area, the morgue knows to call her. Debi goes into the autopsy room alone, where she wraps each infant in a homemade quilt, cradles it and prays. She gives each baby a first name, etches its name on the cross planted on the grave site, and releases dozens of doves.

Now this almost wants us to play the lottery, doesn't it? It was only the third time that Debi and Steve had played and they won. Incredible, really. And it couldn't happen to a more worthy couple. Even so, there's a message here for seniors.

Like what? We were returning from Southern California to Arizona when we bypassed several fine eating establishments because at the moment we were not hungry. Later, out in the wide open spaces, we thought we better find a restaurant when I thought of a casino where we ought to be able to eat well. Not so. We settled for a choice of several fast food establishments within the casino and then I took a walk around the establishment.

I saw tons of people, many of them women with nary a smile on their intense faces. Even a gentleman who was waiting patiently for his silver dollars to fall into his lap (figuratively) wore a grim countenance. Many of the gamblers were seniors and most of the tables where games were being played were run by smiling young women. I, per usual, spent nary a quarter except for food and we continued on our journey.

If you, like so many seniors, get entangled with that potentially near fatal senior moment of hoping for the best, gambling is no respecter of persons. It can be a rare moment of gratification but it can also be intoxicating. Makes me wonder if Debi will go for her fourth?