The very best thing about Ohio is all the people we love that live there. When we are in Ohio we are always rushing to see as many of them as we can. Sometimes we get to see the people we love in new places and they get a separate blog post. But, most of the time, we are getting together with the people we love in familiar places located halfway between where they are and where we are.
The best thing about Ohio is spending time with my parents. They are 88 and 86 and I don’t take any of our time together for granted. I love visiting with them whether we are fixing their internet, learning how to use a new phone, playing dominoes, or eating at one of our favorite restaurants. In December we drove over to Upper Sandusky and enjoyed another evening of driving through Upper’s Winter Fantasy of Lights. This is the best non-professional light show in Ohio. It is so much fun to see all the groups that put time into putting together these wonderful lights.
The best thing about Ohio is spending time with John and Jackie. They are so sweet about making time for us once a week. We enjoy checking out different restaurants together, playing board games, or just working on projects around the house. At the end of November we took Jackie to Tupelo Honey, a new restaurant in Columbus. It was her choice for a birthday dinner. The food was good, but I don’t think it will become one of my favorite restaurants. We are always up to try a new place and it was fun to be there with two of our favorite people. John and Jackie also got us tickets to see Elf the Musical before Christmas. We had a great time doing that.
The best thing about Ohio is my sister’s family and my brother’s family. It is always wonderful to spend time with them. I have been teaching my niece, Grace, how to weave, and so I have gotten to see my brother, Steve, or sister-in-law, Kathy, almost weekly when they bring her for some weaving time. My sister, Julia, retired at the end of October, so I got to see her a little more often. She made time to come over for cookie baking and also met us in Wooster for lunch with Mom and Dad and Aunt Anne and Uncle Paul. The wedding, Thanksgiving, and Christmas meant that we had a lot of family time together in the fall.
The best thing about Ohio is the friends who are willing to make time to travel to see us. In July, we met Wendy at Gorman Nature Center for a wonderful hike together. Whenever we are with Wendy we try to solve all the world’s problems, but are usually happy when we end up finding a good trail. We met Chris and Bill at Mohican State Park for a wonderful lunch and hike together. All of us hiked over the new cable bridge on the Overlook trail, trying a different trail from the one we usually take. We are so thankful for active friends who like to hike and bike and do stuff.
We also got to have lunch or supper with other friends, meeting at some of our favorite restaurants. In October we had supper with the Vargas, older and younger, at Bob Evans. The timing was important because Amanda and Nick were expecting a baby at the very end of the month and we wanted to get supper in before the baby came. Babies take a lot of time and attention.
We met a bunch of people at The Barn Restaurant in Smithville, Ohio. It is a favorite place to eat when we visit with Aunt Anne and Uncle Paul. We met them there with Mom and Dad and Julia. My Wedgewood Women met us at The Barn for supper one day. While we were eating, and laughing, and sharing – in came my Uncle Paul and Aunt Anne! It was a funny coincidence. The Barn was also the meeting place for a lunch with Sandy and Eric on a rainy, cold day in December. Warm food and a warm friendship. What more could we want?
Tom and I love to travel and see new places. But, as long as we love so many people in Ohio, we will always return to that home base. For us, Ohio really is the heart of it all.
