Memorial Day Weekend

The weekend started off with Columbus' Crawl for Cancer. For years now, my friends have participated and this year I joined up with them. The entry fee goes to charities in the area who support cancer research. Your team of 10 people is given a schedule of bars to visit throughout the day and at each place you get a few pitchers of beer to enjoy. I loathe the taste of beer, so I just went along for the fun, GREAT people watching, and to hang out with my awesome friends. I also spent the majority of the day sitting in the sun working on my tan, so it all worked out great. (Don't worry, I was covered in sunscreen and was equally as pale when I left as I was when I got there!)

The girls on my team.

Love these two girls.

Chealsi and a few other girls from Juan Pablo's season of the Bachelorette were also on the same bar schedule as me, but I did not talk to them or ask them for a picture! Even if I wanted to just a little bit!!

Sunday we spent the day at Mam and Papaw's and had our first cookout of the season. We spent the entire day outside. If you were cold, you moved to the sun. If you got too hot, you moved to the shade. I sat in the sun most of the day and got really sunburned. I even had on some good sunblock!

Tyler and I also went on a snapping turtle expedition. We did a little trap and release. I can't believe he walked right out into the middle of the pond and dug it up. I can very much be an outdoorsy girl, but walking into a pond of algea and mud and muck is not one of those things I'd jump at the chance to do. Tyler, on the other hand doesn't care. I love that even though he's an adult, he still has the same interests as he did when he was 6 years old and had a collection of insects and frogs in containers on our back porch.

I was not expecting him to just walk out into the pond!

The little turtle.

Releasing him in the nearby creek so the little guy can be free. And not eat our fish!

Monday started off with the annual cemetery trip. We do this every year with Dad. We started with Rushtown Cemetery to visit the graves of my Grandma and Grandpa Wickham. This is usually the first and the one where the most tears are shed. My dad is such a softy and he always cries. And I'm just like him, so I cry because 1. it's sad to be in a cemetery, 2. I didn't really get to know my grandparents because they passed when I was 2 and 4, 3. Molly and Tyler don't remember them at all, and 4. these are my dad's parents who he hasn't had in his life for more than 25 years and I don't ever want to have 25 years of my life without my Mom and Dad.This is the same cemetery where my Grandpa's twin brother and parents are buried, so we got to see all of the Wickham family that day.

Then we traveled on to Mt. Lathem Cemetery, which is where my Mam's family is. This one is probably the hardest for me because Grandma Primer is buried here and she's been the only family member I've had pass away. It is so hard to think that she's been gone almost 4 years. I used to send her letters in the mail all of the time and it just doesn't seem like it's been that long since I've sent her an update on my life. All of Grandma's family is buried at this cemetery - her parents, her twin sister, her brother and younger sister, a few son-in-laws. The view from this cemetery is really pretty. It sits on a hill and you just see land for miles and miles. EXCEPT on the side where 90% of my family is buried and then you overlook a bunch of trashy trailers. We were all trying to have a nice moment at the grave and there were no less than 13 dogs chasing chickens in the yard across the road. I'm not even kidding. The dogs just kept running out of the house. It was like a clown car, they just kept coming. And this woman is chasing the dogs (who are chasing chickens) yelling at them to stop. #icanteven

After we left Buchanan, we went to the Waverly cemetery to the grave of Papaw's parents. They both died long before I was born, so I didn't know them at all. My great-grandparents on my grandpa's side were the same age as my great-great-grandparents on Mam's side. The difference of being the oldest and youngest child in a family. So strange to think Papaw's mother and father were born in the 1800's!!! We also visited Uncle Bob's grave, who just passed away last August. He was my grandpa's brother that lived just down the street from us in Piketon. And Dad finally found the grave of a friend of his that he's been looking for 20 years.

Monday afternoon Molly and I went to Long's Retreat and went canoeing. We hadn't been for a long time, so it was fun. We just paddled around the lake/creek like thing it turns into and talked. We got ice cream for the ride home. Tyler had grilled a whole chicken and vegies, so dinner was waiting for us when we got home. It was a good day.

(pictures to come when Molly uploads them)

Later Monday night Dad and I went to Mound Cemetery, which is the one in our town. We visited Erin's grandma and grandpa, along with a lot of people from our town that I knew. Dad's cousin Howard is buried there as well. And Dad also showed me the graves of two friends of his that died in 1971 in a car accident. He was supposed to be with them, but didn't go. I'm so thankful that he wasn't with them and can't even imagine the pain of losing two close friends at age 21.

I used to think that visiting cemeteries was creepy and sad, and while it is very sad to be visiting the grave of a loved one, I enjoy going so much because it's a great time to remember wonderful people and the great memories you have of them. And I especially like hearing my dad talk and tell stories about people he knew and my family members. It's a history lesson as well.

It was a great holiday weekend! Definitely thankful for the men and women in my life who served for our country - my two grandpa's and a few uncles - who allow me to have great times like these with my family.