In honor of an amazing woman

December 12th, my Great Aunt Margaret passed away. Over the past 6 years, Bobby and I have been able to spend time with my family living in the DC area. Growing up we would see each other but it was often every few years. As we have grown up we have seen more of each other celebrating major birthdays, weddings, family vacations and the passing of loved ones. It helps that I have a best friend in DC, making frequent trips less expensive and a double bonus seeing family and friends in one trip. (Thanks Kris for letting me crash at your place over the years!) I tried to always make a point to drive to Maryland to visit with my great aunts and listen to stories of their youth and of a time past. Aunt Margaret was unlike anyone else. She was honest and straight forward all while being loving and encouraging, those are pretty hard things to balance for most people. 
I loved hearing about all the things that she experienced in her 96 years.  I loved her spirit and her independence. She lost her husband years ago just shy of their 50th anniversary.  They had traveled to 48 states and were hoping to round out the 50 for their anniversary... amazing! She also discovered this great vacation retreat, Capon Springs, which became a summer family tradition. Here is a group photo from 2011:

Last year I went to visit everyone before Eli came.  I knew it would difficult to travel after he came so I took one last solo road trip up last January. I drove Aunt Margaret and Aunt Evelyn for dinner at the Riddle's and we had a great time catching up. This August Aunt Margaret started to have some back pain and was moved into an assisted living house, so thankfully I did not put off taking Eli up to meet her. We went up for Labor Day to visit.  She just loved Eli.  She was very excited that he had just learned to suck his toes and told me how she taught my cousin Quinn to do the same. We spent a whole afternoon together watching Eli sleep and learning even more about her life, there is a lot to cover when you are 96! I am thankful that I thought to take some pictures and videos of Eli with his great great aunts. Its wonderful to hear her voice and see her tickle his side. Here are the two together:

I am so grateful that Aunt Margaret loved the Lord.  She was always very encouraging and supportive of our church plant.  She would often talk about the changes she noticed in her church and how she was happy they were reaching the new neighbors in her changing neighborhood. She lived in a house two doors down from the house she was born in (her sister still lives in the family house). She was very active through the years at her church, she served as a deaconess, even the chairman of deaconesses and was asked to write the history of her church.  Here are some shoots of her book:

In the conclusion she says, "God's work must go on and on until He calls each of us home from our labors."  She was finally called home, and though she will be greatly missed, I am so thankful for her influence in my life and for life long pursuit and love for the Lord.