Our youngest son, Tim, is a driven kid. I have never seen someone so focused on goals and harder working. I told a friend this morning that if I could have 10 Tim Messinas, we could take over the world. Tim graduated 3 years ago from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a degree in Exercise, Nutition, and Health. As of this past Saturday, he graduated from Concordia University-Chicago with a Master’s degree in Strength & Conditioning. I am so very proud of him! Tim currently lives in West Virginia (2 days drive from us) and is a strength & conditioning coach intern at West Virginia University. He can stay in the internship until May…but will be starting to look for a permanent job coaching elite athletes. I am so excited for him. The world is his oyster and I look forward to seeing what 2022 brings for him!

On December 30th, I am getting the works done at CHI Bergan Mercy. I have four appointments that morning…one for blood work, one for a Lupron shot (cue huge needle), one for a Zometa infusion via my port (this is to “seal” my bones from further mets and I get it every 3 months) and then my 3 month scans of my chest, abdomen, and pelvis. I have had good results thus far, but I literally live scan to scan, waiting for the other shoe to drop. I have changed my life quite a bit since the last scan…participating in 6 cardio classes a week. I just don’t know how my cancer is going to react to that. It seems like it would be a good thing…but I don’t know. So I am a little more nervous about these scans.

I am a member of a chronic cancer support group through A Time To Heal. We meet every other week and have only been meeting via zoom for the last couple of years. These people are such an inspiration. They are all stage IV cancer and have been surviving and thriving with their cancer for years. It was exactly what I needed – this group of wonderful men and women. Some of the members have been around since the group was founded in 2010…which is inspiring. We have 3 moderators who are either former oncology nurses or psychologists. They are more like friends and a part of the group though. Those three moderators are retiring this month…so it will be a whole new atmosphere in January as our group will be merged with another group as well. The outgoing moderators went to each of our homes and left a box on our doors. We opened them together during our last zoom meeting together last week. We each got a beautiful mug filled with candy. I loved the message on the mug so much that I wanted to share it with you. Whenever I start to get overly anxious about my upcoming scans and it threatens to overshadow my Christmas season, I glance at this mug and adjust my attitude. I think that you don’t have to have stage IV cancer to get a good message from this mug – so I am sharing it with you all!

On my drive back from my week in Houston, I got a phone call from one of the instructors at the Southwest YMCA. Her name is Heather and she is one of my favorites. She started a little troupe of adult (mostly older adult) dancers after her cardio class on Monday mornings. I love to dance and Heather is an accomplished choreographer and dance instructor. She also did a lot of martial arts, which is why we have bonded. I figured I did a lot of singing and dancing while I was a Sweet Adeline, and well, why not! I joined the little dance troupe of 8 women (me being the youngest by quite a bit) called the Southwest Shining Stars. We have fun and practice for about 30 minutes every Monday morning after cardio class. So…Heather calls me as I am traipsing through the backroads of Kansas on my way home. She wants to know what size tutu to order for me for our performance (which was this past Friday). I am 50 years old and no one has EVER asked me for my tutu size. I am pretty much thinking that someone my size and age has no business wearing a tutu….for a performance or otherwise! Anyhow, not only did I wear a tutu for our two numbers for the senior citizens’ breakfast at the YMCA this past Friday, but I also wore a velvet and sequined bow in my hair. To say I was outside of my comfort zone was a bit of an understatement. Unfortunately there were A LOT of people taking photos and video of said performance so I thought I would get out ahead of this thing and just post a picture of the youngest SW Shining Star…me. I know my kickboxing friends would pay money to see this, and I said as much as I was donning the bow and tutu and walking into the gym to perform. Sigh. You’re welcome. This is so not me….but I had a blast!

I started the day at the Bergan Mercy Cancer Center getting my port flushed and that fabulous monthly shot in the hip with that HUGE needle. I spent the day catching up with work and home stuff…and was really looking forward to doing my Thursday night Zumba class at the YMCA. As I was running a few errands between 3 and 4 p.m., I noticed some really long wispy clouds. These usually mean the sunset will be nice. However, I was unprepared for the beauty that I saw tonight. The sunset tonight in Omaha was SPECTACULAR! I grabbed my camera and tripod and drove out to Flanagan Lake to see if there were any reflections off the water. I arrived to watch the sun set for about 20 minutes and then stayed to catch the after colors, which are typically the most rich and vibrant. Several people came out to walk the lake and ended up standing there with me taking photos with their phones and just taking in the beauty of God’s painting tonight.

Whilst the rest of the family flew out to their respective cities on Saturday morning, Tallinn and I stayed until Sunday at noon. My mom and dad have a smaller place now so all 8 of us couldn’t fit under one roof. My brother, Craig and his wife, Mayra, and son, Alex, were away on a Thanksgiving cruise they purchased pre-COVID (and had been delayed several times). They live 10 minutes away from our folks’ house, so they allowed the kids to stay there. So Saturday my mom and I spent the morning washing sheets and towels and replacing them all in Craig and Mayra’s house. They came home that afternoon and we were able to go out to eat that night and spend a few hours together. I have always had a special connection with my brother so it was great to spend some time with them. Sunday brought church services and brunch with Craig, Mayra, Alex, and my parents before Tallinn and I hit the road. We left a little after noon and the traffic was HORRIBLE. No accidents, just a lot of people leaving the city to head back to wherever they came from. More than once, I thanked God that Rich was not on the drive with me, as 2.5 hours were added to my first day due to standstill traffic. After years of living and driving in Boston, Rich is not a fan of traffic. Understandable. Tallinn and I stopped in Moore, Oklahoma around 8:45 p.m. to visit with some good friends of ours from Norway: Nick and Kana Mauldin. Wow, it was so great to catch up with them…even if it was only for an hour or so in their car! We will make it a longer visit soon, I hope! We made it as far as Wichita, Kansas the first day…finally stopping at half past midnight. Tallinn and I both just crashed hard and then left around 9 a.m. to get home in time to pick up Lily from school on Monday.

I, again, got a few photos in…mostly in southern Nebraska. The weather was beautiful and we came back a different way than we came. Sheila, my Aussie-accented GPS guide, didn’t seem to think I could do 3 point turns on country roads, so when I went off on a tangent to chase an old barn to photograph, or a crop dusting plane, she had me do big “around the country block” moves that led me to some even better views of random rural stuff. I have put a few photos below of what we saw. The cows were free range feeding in corn fields and were resting comfortably – even when I pulled up right next to them to take photos. Then my killer Australian Cattle Dog got his first view of a cow (from his crate in the car) and went bananas. The cows were on their feet and backing up in a flash. Ah well.

I now find myself playing catch up again now that I am back home. I have slid back into my routine of YMCA classes, and carpooling Lily and her friend to school. Laundry is going as well as lasagna for a dinner tonight for our last LiveStrong gathering. I will miss these strong, warrior queens. I am working on Christmas stuff – wrote our Christmas letter and now need to tweak it a bit before printing. I ordered our Christmas photos and can’t wait to see the finished product as I am using a new printing company that comes highly recommended from more professional photographers. Gotta be better than Walgreens 1 hr photo, I am thinking! AND….I also ordered prints for a friend who asked me for some autographed prints of my photos. Gotta say, I was pretty humbled by that! Amy Tamkus, your prints are being printed!

Rich and our four kids flew down on Wednesday morning to spend Thanksgiving with my parents. Lily is the reigning Settlers of Catan winner….Tim is STILL the reigning Monopoly king, although Lily gave him a run for his money…literally. There was A LOT of food and all of it was delicious. My parents are used to a quiet existence with just the two of them and the six of us and my dog invaded their space and made it a bit louder than normal. They are still standing and still smiling. We lamented over the Huskers losing…both in football and volleyball. (it was a rough day on Friday for UNL teams). We spent about an hour and a half taking family photos around their area. Rich and the kids are all safely at their respective homes now. I spent the afternoon sifting through these photos to share.

Tallinn and I drove do

wn to Houston the Friday before Thanksgiving to spend a week or so with my parents. The rest of the fam showed up later on to join us. I just followed the directions that the GPS (I call her Sheila since she has an Australian accent) sent me on….which was rural highways throughout most of Nebraska and Kansas then into Oklahoma. My trusty companion, Tallinn, did not complain once when I stopped to take photos of old barns and new windmills or little country churches. So I stopped often! He seemed to be content to listen to the audio books that I chose for the trip as well. He was the perfect travel partner. Although….at the hotel we stopped at in Denton, Texas, he went in the elevator once. Once. He did NOT like it and would not go back in again. So, we huffed it up and down 3 floors with bags. Here are some photos from our trip down to Houston last week starting with a gorgeous sunrise in Omaha and ending with a striking sunset in Norman, Oklahoma!

This fall has been LOOOONG…which is awesome, because it is my favorite season in Nebraska. The weather has vacillated between warmer and then downright cold….and the trees have had vibrant colors for a longer time and the colors have been so much brighter. I think God was trying to give me the opportunity to get some good photos of my favorite season this year. Lily and I went to OPPD Arboretum to take some photos. I then went on my own to Platte River State Park. There I climbed the huge tower to look out over the river and the trees. I missed a lot of the great colors but there was some left. I then got to pet the horses. I had the whole place to myself. On my out there, I stopped at Louisville State Park. The rain and wind hadn’t started yet (got caught in it in Platte River State Park) and the lakes were so still and were reflecting the trees around them….it was just so pretty.

My oldest son, Joe Messina, had his 27th birthday this past Saturday, November 13th. I had a good reason for not getting his birthday on this blog….I was spending it with him! Michelle, his wife, was in a wedding here in Omaha on Saturday. He had to come up on Saturday when we got off of his fire fighting shift at his department. I got to take him out to lunch at Shirley’s Diner (and watch him eat a breakfast burrito that was the size of his giant waterbottle – no exaggeration!), and watch him open his presents. His sister was teasing him about being old….27!….and I concurred after he was so excited about getting a leaf blower for his birthday! LOL! He told me he was a homeowner now with a big yard and this was perfect! Lily made and decorated a cake in her culinary arts II class this past week, so it was perfect timing for Joe’s cake, which he took with him when they left on Sunday morning.

Joe has always been a smiling person…he swear he was born smiling. I was petrified when he went to basic training….I figured he wouldn’t be able to stop smiling and would get in trouble. He made it through…smiling. He has grown into a man that I am so very proud of. He works hard, plays hard, and loves his wife, Michelle, with all his heart. Life is always brighter when Joe is around. I am so blessed to be his mother and known that he has something of me pumping through his veins. I am so proud of him and love him to pieces!

I have been so very busy and I didn’t post on here about my husband’s birthday on the day of his birth…November 3rd. Rich and I married pretty young. I was 20, he was 22, almost 23. The chances that our marriage would last weren’t great but we have stuck through it…through thick and thin….in health and now in sickness. I have loved this man for over 30 years. We have had 3 beautiful children and travelled the world together. We are very different people – we have different tastes in music, different interests. However, we complement each other pretty well and always have a good time. Last night we spent 3 hours at the Baxter Arena watching the U.S. Olympic men’s curling trials with Lily. We had a blast! Rich has a lot of wild ideas….and most of them come to fruition and are a success. One of them was retiring from the military and opening a Play It Again Sports store in Omaha. I thought it was a crazy idea. Yet here we are, 7 years after its grand opening, watching his business just thrive. When I first started chemo in December of 2019…I just wasn’t able to do a lot. I was so tired and felt so sick. He was really wonderful about helping out on top of all he was doing at work. November is also caregiver’s month…and although I wouldn’t necessarily call him that in this moment, he still does things everyday to care for me in a small way (which is big in my book)…like washing my car….picking up dinner….going to the Y with me….going on a walk with me. Although he is much like a 13 year old in a 53 year old’s body, and that can make my eyes roll…he is a lot of fun to be around. I have included a few photos of him below. Happy birthday to the love of my life! I hope to be around to celebrate with you for years to come!