Although Tom and I are now in Georgia, we had a fabulous five months in Ohio. After our European trip, it was good to spend August – December back in our home state. We did lots of things, which I have written about, but we also did lots of things that I haven’t written about. Day to day things. Hanging with Mom and Dad, John and Jackie, and other friends and family.
The best reason to spend time in Ohio is always to be with people that we love. We spent time with Mom and Dad at least once a week during the five months. Some of the things we did together got their own blog post. But mostly we did less adventurous things. We played dominoes and ate pizza together. We watched Michigan beat Ohio State AGAIN! ARGH! We met Anne and Paul and Julia at the Wayne County Fair for a very fun afternoon together. We took Mom and Dad up to Lakeside for an afternoon in August.
When we go see Mom and Dad, they have a list of things for us to do. We help them with little day-to-day things and make sure all their technology is working. Tom moves heavy things. We help get the Christmas decorations out. It is nice to know that we are making their lives a little easier amid the challenges of getting older. During our time with them we took drives just to get out of the house and even got them to eat at Culver’s for the first time. So yummy!
We had three major holidays during the five months in Ohio. Dad’s 90th birthday, Thanksgiving and Christmas. The extended family is really good about being together over Thanksgiving and Christmas. In addition, I got to see my sister at Mom and Dad’s and visit with my brother when he brought his daughter, Grace, up to weave.
Tom and I got more involved in church. We bought a new sofa to replace the Covid-purchased sofa when we first bought our house. We spent some time with our neighbors watching the Aurora Borealis in October. It was pretty spectacular considering all the ambient light in the our area.
Tom and I explored the area where we live during our five months in Ohio. We went for lots of hikes in parks and tried some new restaurants and shops. In a way, we were being tourists in our own community. We found some new favorites that we will miss while we are away.
We spent a couple of hours every week with John and Jackie. Seeing the movie Wicked was something that we did together. We enjoyed lots of meals at 101 Beer Kitchen and other favorite restaurants. Jackie took me to see “The Piano Guys.” We wandered around Costco together. Tom and I stayed with Sully while John and Jackie went to a Cavs game. We are always thankful when the young people are willing to make time for us.
In addition to all our wonderful time with Mom and Dad, we got to see some friends. The Wedgewood ladies joined us for lunch at Der Dutchman. We saw Steve, Amy, and Emma Winstead at least once a month. Karen Graham met us at Thyme 2 in Medina for lunch. After lunch we enjoyed some shopping time on a very cold day on the square in Medina.
There is never enough time to do everything we want to do. But five months was enough time to do lots of things. In addition, we have plenty to see and do when we come back to Ohio again.