Aunt Pep passed away. She was 91 years old, and lived a remarkable life. Her daughter, Kathy, put together a touching obituary you can read by following that link, but even that doesnt quite capture enough of Aunt Pep’s life. She leaves behind a husband of 70 years, uncle Jim, who is 93 years old.

Who was aunt Pep?

It all started with these 5 brothers; the one on the left is my grandfather as a child, Gordon; his brother, Jim, is pictured on the right in the first picture, and Aunt Pep was Jim’s wife; my dad’s aunt.

All of the families of these 5 boys grew up together in New Jersey, and their bond as cousins was special.

The funeral was held at Johns Island Presbyterian Church, where Aunt Pep volunteered in a number of positions during the 30+ years of her time there. The service was special, and her husband, children, and grandchildren painted a strong image of a life well-lived by an incredibly strong, industrious, loving woman. She was intentional with her time, and loved others well through her service in countless ways, through countless organizations over her years.

The part that stood out to me was how the goodness of a family rises to the top. Sometimes I am not amazing with my choice of words, so bear with me on this one because I want to convey it properly.

There are hiccups in our family. I think there are hiccups in every family. Hiccups like strained relationships, divorce, financial challenges, disease, death, and heartache. The list can go on, but that is not the point. The point is that those things are only in passing, and in the end the strong relationships that honor one another, support one another, and live a life to bless others are the ones that out shine all of the other “hiccups” that inevitably arise. I know I fall short in this area often in a lot of ways.

The stories that were shared about Aunt Pep and Uncle Jim showed how they were a lighthouse to their family over the years: loving their two children well at all points in their lives, and loving and welcoming their grandchildren in the same way, all through college and beyond. Jim, who is the last of the five brothers, became a patriarch of all of the families, and his family was as welcoming to the extended family (all of his brother’s families) as they were to their own. This was something different. This was something special. This is something rare, and something I think all of us can aspire to. Uncle Jim and Aunt Pep set the bar pretty high.

After the service, we went back to the hotel, and hung with the family until almost midnight. I know, its crazy to stay up that late. We told stories. We laughed. We reminisced.

Not all of the pictures are available, but Brenna caught me in this pic, as we were arranging for the family photo. It was in this moment that I missed my cousin Ken- his zingers would have been special during these few minutes while we organized everyone to get the perfect shot of the group.

Lot’s of great pictures were taken by the group, and I wish that I had taken more to share.

I will share this though: here is a picture of my great-great grandfather. He is the one that came over from Scotland many years ago. Also, a picture of me with my uncle Steve- who (in my opinion) is the spitting image of Dickie-Bird Papa (thats my great-grandfather’s name):

It’s hard to do this weekend justice in a blog post. There was so much to share, great conversations. It was fun to connect with Tyler and Ashley and Ellie and Erin. We missed the cousins that couldn’t make it.

The next morning, my dad and I hopped back in the car and did the 5 hour marathon drive back to Greensboro: unfortunately, I didn’t get any pics during his visit on my phone, but it was a pretty great drive. I’m used to driving with a small kid, so it was rather great to drive without having to stop for potty breaks every 40 minutes.

Mercy is four.

Mercy had a birthday party this weekend. Each year on her birthday, I remember the journey it took to meet her. I wrote about it before and you can read about it if you are interested, but the short of it is that she is a special kid we prayed for over many years, and it is special to celebrate this unique, wild girl:

The picture above is great, but she has a lot more spunk than you would think by going off of that image. She is fearless, tough, sad, and happy. She loves her sister. She loves her cousins, and uncles and aunts and grand parents. She loves to read books at night before bed. She dances (like her big sister), sings, smiles, laughs, and is just a wonderful kid.

The princess party was fun- thanks to everyone who was able to make it. The face painter was awesome, so were the try-on princess dresses. The bounce house.

Once again, I didn’t get any good pics of my dad: driving 10 hours in 2 days left me with the jitters, but it was totally worth it. A special time to honor Aunt Pep with the family, special to share some time with my dad, and special to share my world here in Greensboro with him.