Gloria and the curious case of Arthur
Gloria has lived at the Villas 11yrs. She is an older lady with two white dogs who bark and roam around the complex. She knows rhe office staff by name and the maintenance people. They answer to her whenever there is trouble a foot and whenever she catches them for small talk. She is a bit of a curmudgeon in her own right and owns it right down to her style and jewelry and her southern drawl when she complains about the apt children running lose in the area. She lets you know her presence, but takes no crap or phoniness, she will see how transparent you become.
Her demeanor speaks of "back off" but surprisingly she talks to me out of anyone else in that entire villa. Maybe I am just too nice or have no one to talk to there either. I listen to her and we chat about whatever she has on her mind or she attempts to pry into my world, which I oblige sometimes if feeling need to. She has many friends that she visits frequently and takes extravagant trips and sometimes just to a spa resort for the weekend. Can't say I would live the same life, but she sounds almost sad even. As if, it wasn't a life she chose.
You see, Gloria got in an accident a long time ago and is in a wheel chair till the end of her days. We never delved into what happened, but from what I could tell it was two things, either her fault, drinking and driving, or someone hit her. She exclaimed she is over it however; she goes to pilates, and still tries to do what she can, but the days of looking cute are over she thinks. I told her not true. Jewerly, hair, toes, fun clothes, who cares what people think. Her wrinkles a sense of self consciousness and shame, I told her it was life lines and laugh lines. She seemed to smile at that. Gloria wants a friend who lives around home who doesn't judge, and I intend to set a boundary, although, I think being a sound board sometimes can't hurt. You can only take so much of someone else's drama within your own circle you already have and those close to you.
Arthur is a troubled soul. I called him creepy, rude, disgusting, and vulgar (from the profanity and yelling, down to his f you's and middle fingers). He woke people up in the middle of the night and ran around shouting that people had murdered his loved ones. He would walk around with a watering can and hold grudges at people he didn't even know. He would grope himself in public and yell at the office staff. The back story apparently, is his girlfriend couldn't handle the outbursts and realized he would never come to love her, or see her.
Arthur is schizophrenic. I learned this from the staff and began to wonder what it must be like to grapple with demons like that everyday. I was angry with him. His treatment of me wasn't much better after Mia and I encountered him on our walks or hearing his disparity in the evenings. The cops came and went. The case all to curious, no one would call 911 or they did and the police said we were messing with him. No one knows the facts. The office would be threatened by him daily, saying that it was their fault his girlfriend left etc.
The tyranny lasted awhile, until he finally went too far. Not sure the reason, or how it ended, but he was evicted and all was quiet. Gloria came to me and said he turned himself in, and said take me away to a mental hospital. No one is sure how long that will work or last, but I do feel badly for the guy, even if he is well insane. Could be PTSD, who knows. Whatever it is, whatever his past, I am going to pray for him. Mental illness is no joke, and is difficult to deal with. Unfortunately, it is not something we can change for him. In an effort to be "humble and kind" as the Tim Mcgraw song says, let us try.
Her demeanor speaks of "back off" but surprisingly she talks to me out of anyone else in that entire villa. Maybe I am just too nice or have no one to talk to there either. I listen to her and we chat about whatever she has on her mind or she attempts to pry into my world, which I oblige sometimes if feeling need to. She has many friends that she visits frequently and takes extravagant trips and sometimes just to a spa resort for the weekend. Can't say I would live the same life, but she sounds almost sad even. As if, it wasn't a life she chose.
You see, Gloria got in an accident a long time ago and is in a wheel chair till the end of her days. We never delved into what happened, but from what I could tell it was two things, either her fault, drinking and driving, or someone hit her. She exclaimed she is over it however; she goes to pilates, and still tries to do what she can, but the days of looking cute are over she thinks. I told her not true. Jewerly, hair, toes, fun clothes, who cares what people think. Her wrinkles a sense of self consciousness and shame, I told her it was life lines and laugh lines. She seemed to smile at that. Gloria wants a friend who lives around home who doesn't judge, and I intend to set a boundary, although, I think being a sound board sometimes can't hurt. You can only take so much of someone else's drama within your own circle you already have and those close to you.
Arthur is a troubled soul. I called him creepy, rude, disgusting, and vulgar (from the profanity and yelling, down to his f you's and middle fingers). He woke people up in the middle of the night and ran around shouting that people had murdered his loved ones. He would walk around with a watering can and hold grudges at people he didn't even know. He would grope himself in public and yell at the office staff. The back story apparently, is his girlfriend couldn't handle the outbursts and realized he would never come to love her, or see her.
Arthur is schizophrenic. I learned this from the staff and began to wonder what it must be like to grapple with demons like that everyday. I was angry with him. His treatment of me wasn't much better after Mia and I encountered him on our walks or hearing his disparity in the evenings. The cops came and went. The case all to curious, no one would call 911 or they did and the police said we were messing with him. No one knows the facts. The office would be threatened by him daily, saying that it was their fault his girlfriend left etc.
The tyranny lasted awhile, until he finally went too far. Not sure the reason, or how it ended, but he was evicted and all was quiet. Gloria came to me and said he turned himself in, and said take me away to a mental hospital. No one is sure how long that will work or last, but I do feel badly for the guy, even if he is well insane. Could be PTSD, who knows. Whatever it is, whatever his past, I am going to pray for him. Mental illness is no joke, and is difficult to deal with. Unfortunately, it is not something we can change for him. In an effort to be "humble and kind" as the Tim Mcgraw song says, let us try.
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