There are many tales in the city – which includes The Villages. Some of them are discussed only in hushed tones and probably not fodder for a column like mine. However, there are others where joy is turned into deep dark remorse. We had a case like that this week where a friend and (I would say former here, but it depends on definitions. We do not live in the same village anymore, but we all do live in The Villages) neighbor suddenly announced that he and his gracious wife were leaving for Arizona as soon as arrangements could be made. They have some purported good reasons for what appears to be a backward step in livability not to mention the separation from all their friends in The Villages. The announced reason being that they were going to live near their daughter.
That is obviously nice for the daughter but what about all us poor folks who will stay in The Villages and miss all the gracious smiles and offers to help anyone and everyone. He and I used to discuss baseball when we met for golf or some other Village reason. As I told him, he is the only one in the whole wide world that I know who supports both the St Louis Cardinals and the Cleveland Indians.
He worries about both of them equally. He even told me that the World Series teams in 2019 would be the Indians and my team the Pittsburgh Pirates. I informed him that now I understood why his daughter wanted him near-by. Anybody who would make such a prediction obviously needs help.
Their other friends will miss them for many reasons as will their church where both are involved volunteers. His golf is impeccable. He takes a stance, sort of winds himself up and then crushes the ball. He hits it farther than many bigger lads. He also tries to con me into thinking that I am a better player than I am. It usually doesn’t work, but it is nice that he tries. He does the same to others, and nary is an unkind word spoken of him or his wife. However, he does tend to exaggerate sometimes. He tells everyone who is new and doesn’t know any better that when they moved into our old neighborhood, that two days later we put our house up for sale. It was slightly more than that!
However, there are others who are going to be really devastated about their move. One of them is the Lexus dealer in Orlando. Our hero loved to trade in his Lexus each year (sometimes more often) and the salesman and sales manager consider him a big reason for the success of the dealership. When he did trade he always bought the same model and the same color. That way he assumed that folks would not notice that he bought a new car. One time he was down there for maintenance. When they told him the bill was over $300 he decided that was nonsense and he would show them. He traded the just maintained car in on a new one – and he never had to pay that overblown maintenance fee! His golf playing partners and I decided today that they now probably have his photo which hangs in the lobby over a Lexus SUV draped in black. Truly a tragic situation.
There are others who feel the same way. He also likes to buy golf carts on a fairly frequent basis. A few years ago he noted my cart and commented that he loved the metal and Plexiglas windows that slide back and forth that it had. I had purchased them as The Blonde in the house did not like her hair being blown all over. I was not fond of pulling down the sides and snapping them closed. So the sliding doors seem to be the ticket, and were an easy closure if rain came upon us. Besides they were made in Ireland from where a bunch of The Blonde’s ancestors came. Therefore, when he would say he was thinking that he was going to buy another cart, I would remind him where he could buy one with doors like ours. A couple of weeks later he would show up with a new cart – but it didn’t have any doors like ours. I would ask why, and he would comment “Oh, this lady is so nice where I usually buy carts that I just couldn’t let her down”. If you notice The Villages cart stores being draped in black, you will know the rest of the story!
Alas, good friends we knew you well!
Barry Evans writes about Life in The Villages for Villages-News.com
