Columbus Trip May 2014 and Mother's Day

We had a wonderful visit to Columbus in May! We checked out our new place, Westborough apartments in Columbus, OH. We love it! We just signed the lease. We'll be about 5 miles from campus. It's a great community of grad student families.

We stayed with some of our favorite people in the world! Our Aunts, Candi and Laura.

We also got to go to visit my Grandma, Phyllis Paver Shepard with them. 

Here John and Aunt Candi are playing with Lincoln Logs that I played with when I was a kid!

 We talked about and looked at old family photos and I got some shots of my great grandparents. This is my great grandma, Helen Marie Morgan

 And her mother, Ina Mae Ritter.

 This is Helen Marie Morgan and her husband, my greatgrandpa, John Joseph Paver on their wedding day.

 Here is my Uncle James. He passed away when I was 3. It was mother's day when we visited Grandma Shepard. She was thinking of all her children, but especially James. She asked if I ever met him. I know I did. I remember him laying on her couch (probably when he was very sick) under a brown and orange crocheted afghan and smiling at me. I remember that my Aunt Diane pushed me on a swing after his funeral. My Grandma showed us a row of bushes they planted in James' last year. They are big now. As we talked, Grandma and my Aunt Laura shed a few loving tears. It was a very sweet and tender moment for all of us, and it really helped me feel the love of family. Mothers never forget their children, and sisters never forget their brothers. I saw that on mother's day.

 Here's a fun shot (I know it's blurry! I am going to work on scanning and digitizing my grandma's pictures while I live in Columbus. What an undertaking! But well worth it.

 After we reminisced, we all needed some cheer, which John, our little comedian, provided. Our sweet boy gave smiles and laughs and hugs. What a loving boy!

 It was a beautiful Mother's Day. I'm so glad to be a mother, a wife, a daughter, a sister, a niece, an aunt, a cousin, a friend, a granddaughter and so-on. I am thankful for all the wonderful women in my life that show me the love and compassion that is our birthright as women.