who's to say

 Years ago my parents had some friends and the husband died. The husband had a retirement that the wife could only continue receiving if she remained single. If she remarried she would have to give up the retirement that her and her husband had worked for over 20 years to receive. She fell in love with another guy after her husband was dead. And they moved in together and they lived together as husband and wife without marrying so that she could continue getting her retirement from her first husband. My mom my mom felt that this was shaming the memory of her first marriage. For some reason she felt that her friend should get married and give up the retirement and then be properly married to this other guy. Now that sounded ridiculous to me. If you know anything about marriage and couples you know that the wife had been very instrumental in helping get the retirement even though she didn't actually work the job. It was completely appropriate in my opinion for her to keep getting the retirement. Plus she had met this other guy later in life and if they didn't get along then she would be divorced with no income. So that's just my take on it, she did no evil, I think. Not sure if my mom ever got over it. Oh well.