Thursday, April 25, 2013

So many experiences and no time to share....

We are loving Darien and South Georgia. The absolute best feature is everything cultural...from the food, the expectations, the rules for behaviour, the sharing and the comfort and friendship extended to us by those who don't know us at all. Nothing is a secret in this county...nothing!

Here is a short story told by one neighbor and confirmed by the wife involved. A neighbor and her husband owned two grocery stores in the area. The husband has died and there is now only one operating grocery store. The husband, before he died, had a number of mistresses which everyone in the area knew about. Besides "servicing" him, this last mistress also kept his books at the grocery stores.

While the wife worked, the mistress "took care" of her husband and this continued through his decline and death. The mistress was kept very well by this man and,  he gave her many hundreds of thousands of dollars, a new home, and various cars. When he died, the mistress appeared at the funeral home, at the grave side ceremony and also came over to the wife's house for the meal after the funeral. An elderly lady, not related to either, suggested mistress lady might want to leave before  someone killed her. Met the wife last night and she is in financial distress and told me this story which I had heard but she added some flavor I hadn't heard.

I didn't know her or the husband or their names so didn't connect the dots from the story told to me earlier by another neighbor. When she indicated that before her husband's death, he gave of their property willingly to others. I thought that, "lovely" and she disagreed. This wasn't philanthropic giving but, as she explained, giving to specific people in return for "services." Her son, with a traumatic brain injury lives next door to her with his wife. He cannot work and she won't. So, the mother in law helps keep them in the home her husband built for them and gave them outright. The mom in law, using her social security benefits, is struggling. The daughter in law's parents live four houses down and though they help their sons, they won't help the daughter and her husband who has been unwilling to get disability though he will not ever "be right in the head." Why? Because it "looks bad" even though he worked for 38 of his 52 years and gave into the system. So, the old lady, who is taking care of her son is going to lose her house and her son's house soon. Tragic. I suggested maybe they could live in one home because both are quite large. Mom in law said, "never." Her son has a brain injury but at least HE has a brain! His wife...not so much.By the way...the wife knew her husband was having affairs and had hired his mistress and gave away much of their money. She said..."Men are animals and she thought he would get over it."

The daughter in law burned leaves yesterday. She waited until the wind was blowing our way and directly into the yard of our neighbor. This continued full force for 10+ hours and into this morning. They don't like each other...so she waited til the wind blew in the direction that would cause the most rift in the 'hood." She told me she had waited on purpose.
Flowers are so beautiful here but it is getting very hot and they are wilting. The good news is that the sand gnats are dying off and I was told that the team, the Sand Gnats of Savannah are just as "annoying" as the bug which is why the team was named this. Not sure about that but fun.

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