Family- a blessing and a curse

The Blessing

^{↑The home of my great grandfather James Bell Smith, founder of Bellville Ga↑}
Pre Covid, my family, both those descended from Roscoe (my specific family branch) and those descended from the son of JB Smith, Daniel Harrison Smith had yearly reunions

The DH Smith reunion has been going in a continuous line for nearly a century.

↑four of the children of DH Smith, on the far right is my grandfather Roscoe↑

When I was small, there were SO MANY cousins and family that it had to be held at the Tattnall Campground, a place for religious meetings that was also founded by my ancestors

By the time I began attending once more in Bellville Ga,
!pinmapple 32.11146 lat -81.97225 long Church and cemetery d3scr
it had dwindled to sometime 50 people, with some of the family lines not having been heard from in years

I missed it last year when it restarted after covid. I'm told there were a great many more attending last year than this one

↑This was a sad turn out↑
But it was great to see everyone once more. I did not take my keyboard, but I DID donate my older PA which I've not used in a couple of years, 4 ch 100 w amp head (mono) 2 speakers w/ about 40 ft of speaker cable and one mic w/cord.

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But I'm ahead of the story, Since I can't drive at night anymore, and it's a nearly 3 hr drive one way, and since MY car is a 2011 with a good amount of miles, I always rent a car, drive down on Saturday, do the reunion on Sunday and drive home intent to avoid the afternoon sun in my eyes and get here before dark.
I'd reserved a compact car middle of last week, to be picked up Sat morning.
When I got there, the guy behind the counter said "Would a Mustang be alright?"
I spluttered and said "Same Price?"
Yep, so this was my ride this weekend

Never have I ever driven a convertible.
I LIKED it! ha ha ha

↑Donated PA and some peppers↑

Aside from the pain of getting in and out of something that low, this was about the most comfortable ride down and back I've ever had. 30+ mpg too!

The Curse

I only have one full sister of all my siblings, and she only had two children, a boy and a girl.
The boy has been trouble almost from birth, he is one reason I am in Atlanta now. He hates me, he blames me for all the bad things that have happened in his 59 yrs, most of which were really his poor choices and decisions.
He has been married several time, has at one son (I think) has never been able to hold a job so he can't pay child support. He has disability for Anger Management (which is why he can't hold a job) and gets Ga SSI (supplemental Income).
After his last wife finally divorced him about 8 months ago, he has been living with his mama, my 77 yr old sister.
It was constant turmoil and arguing (he blames her as well) and Friday night my nephew (with whom I stayed overnight Saturday) contacted me to say

"Uncle Jerry, you should know Cliff (the son) and Linda (my sister) had a fight this afternoon and Cliff is now staying at the old River Cabin area in a pull behind trailer."
I later found more details, that he had HIT my sister in the face, knocking her to the floor with her striking her head on some furniture on the way down, climbed on top of her and was choking her, but she somehow got him off before he killed her.
She had called the Sheriff and they came to make him leave, and said "there will be warrants issued" (She is worried that she might be taken into account somehow as well)

SO,...one of my plans had been to GO to the old river property, spend some time alone in the peace and quite, reliving memories of better times, but now that was impossible. I stayed with Joseph, who has raised his family right on the bank of the river on a bluff, this was my view from the bedroom window Sunday Morning

I DID walk around with my high dollar camera, and got a few shots, but with my bad hip there was no way I could climb down that embankment, and I got a neat video of the 'steam' rising from the rivers surface in the cold morning air

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Growing up, this would have been considered low for the river, but this is the most water I've seen flowing in it for years; Joseph said that a couple of weeks ago it was actually overflowing the banks and into the woods!
I would have loved to have seen that

This Live Oak has been there all my life, I once lusted after building a tree fort or something in it. It is at the bottom of the hill at the beginning of the flood plain

↑This is also a live Oak, but it is above the flood plain up on the bluff.↑
As you can tell, it took me 4 images to get all this vine, the tree and vine are at the top of the river bank

An imperfect splice, but you get the idea
In all that time, we were fairly certain that my violent nephew who was down at the river property didn't know I was at Joseph's house, but after I got home, Joseph said Cliff had seen me walking across Joseph's yard, so he knew all along.
So what should have been a joyous journey home (and was for the most part) was overshadowed by this turmoil, and

"Our Family Curse"

^by
Jerry E Smith
©09/09/2023
All images are mine, taken with my
Nikon D5600, or my Cellphone.
The older images are family property