Back in June I flew to Ohio to attend my Grandma's memorial service. I'm so grateful to my parents for making this trip possible. Taylor and Alexie came along, as well as my brother and his little guy Austin. We survived the flight with flying colors, no pun intended. Two babies in tow and a heart patient with circulation problems in her legs. We were quite the group. My dad & Taylor had to hold us all together :) I know so many of you prayed for my mom. God answered all of our prayers, her health really held up while she flew and the busyness of the weekend. It took her awhile to recover once we got home. Heck it took us all awhile to recover when we got home.
It was a jam packed weekend filled with laughter and tears. One thing is for sure the Jones' know how to eat, drink and be merry. Ha. It was a party morning, noon and night. My dad's Uncle Stu & Aunt Jane hosted us for practically every meal. It was such a blessing. Even greater we were able to sit on the patio and eat outside for every meal too! Something we were most definitely not doing back at home in AZ. Apparently we brought sunshine with us. I was ready to move to Ohio by the end of the trip! Simply gorgeous, large trees, rich lush fields, and the homes in Upper Arlington. Man oh man the character on these homes. You just don't find this in AZ. But less I forget my year in Maryland, I don't do cold. It snows in Ohio.
Well with that, here comes a plethora of pictures. I'm too tired to break this up into multiple posts.
I don't even have words...
Ever seen the show one born every minute. Yep that's our cousin. Or second cousin. something like that. He's a jones that I know. Dr. Jones. It's my sister in law's favorite show so we thought it would be great to et a picture of Ryan and Austin with him :)
Definitely missing some in this photo but it's a good portion of the Jones.
Ohio=fireflies. Do you know how cool it was to be there for Taylor's first experience with fireflies?! It was beautiful! I shed some tears. She LOVED it.
Time for Grandma's service. I am never fully prepared for the wave of emotions that flood me when I attend graveside services. Never. I am sobered. Reflective. That will be me. That will be all of us one day. I am grateful to be a Christian.
Grandma served in WW2 and the brothers were given an american flag. She also wanted to be buried near other veterans. Her country and her service to her country was very important to her.
I'm so glad Taylor was with me. She was not only such a practical help, but it was special having that time with her. She was able to meet Grandma JoJo a few times and has many letters from her. The last letter Grandma Jones sent to Taylor detailed how both of her parents were concert pianist and how excited she was to hear of Taylor's musical pursuits.
The graveside was in the morning and later that afternoon there was a party in remembrance of her life. Taylor helped my Uncle Bobby "get through" a poem Grandma requested be read at her service. The lighting was horrible for this shot and I dislike my conversion. But I did like seeing Taylor and Uncle Bob practice this. Uncle Bob saying ok right about here is where I cry so you take over :) Like he predicted, he cried and she took over.
This lady and her mom used to check on Grandma and bring her groceries when she was still living in her apartment in Ohio.
It was wonderful to see all the many people my grandma's life had an effect on. Even entering into her 90's she had such a great turn out! She truly lived her life out to the fullest to the very end. Talking to these older ladies with tears in their eyes I knew she meant a lot to not only me but so many. She was special. One lady said to me "Ruth isn't gone. She's here tonight in your daughter!" That made me happy. It's true. Watching my social butterfly going from table to table laughing and listening to stories. She does have my grandma's "life of the party" mentality.
Lexie was such a trooper. She hardly napped and barely slept. But she remained happy and smiley the whole time bringing a smile to many.
Austin Jones meet Austin Jones.
Ryan Douglas Jones meet Ryan Douglas. What can I say, we are a creative bunch :) Hey it's your job to keep up with the jones' not our job to be original.
So grateful for my Uncle Stu and Aunt Jane's hospitality! What gems the are!!
Austin loved Uncle Stu. He really took to him.
Austin also loves Lexie and Lexie loves Austin. This was a fun trip seeing the two cousins bound together! If I remember correctly these photo's were taking at 10:30pm. Yep troopers. They were slap happy at this point :)
Before we headed off to the airport we drove by my dad's house that he grew up in. The owner happened to be sitting out in his garage working. We walked up and told him we were just looking at the house because my dad used to live there. The guy was super nice and invited us into the backyard. My grandpa was the original owner. He designed this community and this was the last model to sale. My grandpa moved his family in instead of selling. It was fun to see the owner have these questions and my dad and Uncle Rick have answers as far as to why the home is designed the way it is and such. The original oil lamp post still sits out front. There's a lamp post at every street in this community and a good portion of them have been restored. The owner informed us he plans on restoring it as well!
This pictures says "tired" to me. You can see it in all of our eyes we needed sleep. I'm glad though that we could end our family trip before we headed home, here at my dad's old home.
It was a bittersweet goodbye. Ohio has always been my grandma. I'm not sure what would bring us back there again but I will always have fond memories of visiting my grandma there. Her taking us to the fourth of july parade and fireworks and her passion for the Ohio State Buckeyes :) Grandma this trip was not the same without you there. How you would've loved seeing all of your sons, grandchildren, great-grandchildren making memories and laughing together. You were missed there in Ohio and still missed today. We are grateful you are with the Lord and look forward to reuniting with you again one day.
