It Truly is a Small, Small World

At my most recent appointment, Michelle Graham, my nail lady since 1985, was sharing the details of her recent family reunion in Salt Lake City. She reported over the nail table of conversations with cousins from her Such-and-such family line, her So-and-so family line and with her relatives on the Godwin side! I nearly fainted. "Godwins? How are you related to the Godwins," I asked her wide-eyed. "Oh," she said casually, "my grandmother was a Godwin from North Carolina!" Well, as most of you know . . . my grandmother (Nana) was also a Godwin from North Carolina. Michelle does not know much about her family and as such, we were unable to make any connection to our common ancestor, but she has a brother who has done a lot of genealogy. I can hardly wait to meet him and pick his brain. Nevertheless . . . after 25 years, it was fun to discover my nail lady is also my cousin!!!

Patriot Guard Riders Gather in Ogden

Kelly never calls for help unless she really, really needs it, so last week when her frantic call for our assistance came, we decided to drop everything and head north! As chairman, with her husband Gary of the national gathering of the Patriot Guard Riders in Ogden, she was in the last few days of preparation before the arrival of 500-800 bikers from all over the country – many on their way to Sturgis, South Dakota for the famous “biker rally to end all biker rallies.”

It was a wonderful weekend although by the time we got there she had everything under control. On our way to Ogden, we spent Friday evening with Michael and Tara in Pleasant Grove, then drove up Saturday morning to see the fruits of Kelly and Gary’s labor over this past year, including a vendor fair involving more than 50 booths selling everything imaginable; a concert featuring “Confederate Railroad” and a bike parade with hundreds of bikers and which was much larger, but still reminded me of my father’s funeral last year. Though putting this event together nearly killed her, I am so incredibly proud of my talented oldest daughter’s amazing organizational skills. She is a daughter any parent would be proud of!!!

Taisley came along on our PGR adventure. Besides motorcycles, we found lots of horses in Ogden. Tais loved every last one of them and wanted a photo to remember them by!