#1 Introduction

It’s time for me to tell my tale of S-Town: Behind the Scenes.

The purpose of this blog is to share my experience living in S-Town.

You have no idea how intimidating it is for me to expose myself to the public via the computer. I am not computer savvy. This blog is not about proper English, proper sentence structure, correct punctuation, or correct spelling. I have even given up on spell-check; I use the voice search on my cell phone, whom I nicknamed “Shirley.” She has become my best friend.

Please just concentrate on the content.

From the time John B. passed, my life, my family, my retirement, and — most importantly — the way some people perceive me changed forever.

Since the podcast, I have read the same newspaper articles, Facebook postings, and discussion group comments and have watched and listened to the same interviews you have. I have been judged, laughed at, called names, criticized, and kicked off most discussion groups, all while trying to hold my tongue. It has been hard to keep silent. The whole time, all I could think is: These people do not know the real person I am or want to be.

I realize that everyone has an opinion, and I respect that. I realize that I do not have to answer to anyone concerning my actions. But it does bother me that people have been misled about many issues. This blog is not about trying to change anyone’s opinion or to get anyone to like me or to have sympathy for me. I hope to answer questions and shed light on some of the situations that occurred.

Are there things I wish I had handled differently? Yes. But at the time, choices are made based on circumstances at hand.

This blog is also about me finding closure to this life-changing experience.

To say that these past few years have been challenging is an understatement. It has been a mental and physical nightmare.  Would I do it again? Absolutely. You know why? Not only because it was the right thing to do, but because of Mary Grace. The lady who is a part of my family and who I love, the lady who just lost her son, the lady who had no one, the lady who deserved better.

Seeing her today compared to then makes it all worthwhile. I hope you will be able to see that my main concern then and still to this day is Mary Grace.

This blog will include personal stories and pictures (if I can figure out how) that I hope you will find interesting. I want you to feel free to comment, and I will try my best to answer questions and remove doubts and shed some light on all the details. It is going to be hard to focus on the day-to-day events and not get ahead of myself, but I will try.

Before I got kicked off the discussion groups, I made notes of some of the questions, comments, and concerns.  I will address some of them.

SPOILER: There will be no nipples cut off.

Ok, Let’s start talking,

Reta