Fresh Brewed Friday – My weekly “coffee date” with you allHappenings: This past week I spent most of my time away from home. I flew across the country to southern Georgia, where my Aunt Joan used to live. When she moved back to Wisconsin for treatment, she left a lot of her life and belongings in Georgia. So my mom and I used this trip to visit all of Joan’s favorite places, including the College of Coastal Georgia where she worked, and explore the city of Brunswick and Saint Simons Island one more time.

Our trip also included packing up all of my mom (she used to live in Georgia for a while too) and my aunt’s belongings (on the biggest semi ever!) and sending them back to Wisconsin. Just try to imagine me and my mom, lifting and stacking everything for hours to make sure it all fit nicely (pretty hilarious image, I know.)

While in Georgia, I loved seeing the beautiful Spanish moss on all the trees. It’s one of my favorite parts of visiting the south. These trees are so beautiful and I could stare at them forever.

Thankfully, on this trip, we did get a chance to visit and spend time on Saint Simons Island. Island living is definitely more my style; I love everything about it. From the shops, to the beach, to my favorite ice cream shop called ZuZu’s – I could get lost on that beautiful island.

New Favorite: The Holly tree newly planted outside CCGA. This tree was planted in honor of my sweet Auntie Joanie. Not only did she impact my life, but she truly made a difference in the lives of everyone around her, including all the people she worked with at the college. I’m so touched that the school chose to honor her this way.

Thankful: I am deeply thankful for this trip. Though it may have been hard at times (Kleenex was my best friend on this trip), it felt so important to visit with all the wonderful people Joan used to work with. They shared so many lovely stories about their time with her and it was nice to know she helped them in many ways. I never want her memory to fade, I want to share and hear her stories as much as I can.