9/3/15
Southport, NC
Posted by Bill

We closed up the lake house and headed back to Columbus for a few days. We will miss our friends at the lake and hope to see them next year!

The Columbus visit was a whirlwind and very emotional. With the death of our friend Terri, we attended calling hours and the funeral. We were glad that we were up north so we could attend. After the funeral, the family threw a big “Terri style” party complete with bubble machine, blinking glasses, jello shots and munchies…typical Terri flair!! It was a great way to celebrate her life and the fun that everyone had with her. We made around 200 jello shots as a contribution to the celebration:

Copeland family, our thoughts and prayers will be with you.

The next day we celebrated Tricia’s parents 65th wedding anniversary with fresh Lake Erie perch and peaches. Great seeing everyone!

We had lunch with the kids and grandkids one day, and then breakfast on Sunday when we left for Cincinnati:


I did a terrible job of getting pictures…oh well.

It was sad saying goodbye to the family. We miss them all very much. We were also sorry that we didn’t get to spend more time with our Columbus friends…just too much happening in the short time we were there. We stayed a day in Cinci with my brother Chip and his family, and had a visit with my Mom. Great time with them!! Can’t wait to see everyone again.

Then the long drive back to Southport. Driving is insane! I have no idea how we dealt with the insanity every day in our old lives. Glad to be back in the world of tides, currents, sand and sea. It was good catching up with our friends in Southport, as we missed them too! Thanks to Matt and Shirley for watching over our floating home while we were gone. We settled in to our old routine of having happy hour at the end of D dock, watching dolphins, boats and pelicans. Here is the latest visitor to the marina…nice boat:

The “real world” has it’s conveniences, and we enjoyed them during our trip, but there is something about living this close to nature and living on the water that trumps the “real world”. We all like different things, but I am grateful to be able to live like this, for however long it can go. Now if we could just get those other friends and family here……