We had been home for about 2.5 days when we left again. This time we went to Woodbridge, Virginia for some family events. Rich’s brother, Joe, and his wife, Heather, live in Woodbridge in a beautiful home. It was so nice to get to see their home. Heather’s oldest son got married on a spectacular Friday evening in their backyard, which backs up to a state park. His new wife is from Russia and so there was plenty of vodka flowing along with yummy food from Russia and the U.S. Heather did a wonderful job making it a special event for them. She turned around the next night and threw a massive Halloween party – very obviously her favorite holiday. Her house was….well, it is really indescribable. I have a pretty large vocabulary, but I have to say I have no words for the décor of her house during Halloween. It was so creative. It was a marvel. Rich was told the theme of the party was Halloween movies. Well, I am more of a harvest person than a Halloween person and not a movie person…let alone Halloween ones. Rich came up with the idea of being characters from “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.” Tim had driven over from West Virginia to spend the weekend with us and attend some rugby games at FedEx Field before going to the Halloween bash. Tim was Pig Pen, I was Lucy, and Rich was Charlie Brown. It was fun but we ditched the sheets pretty quickly so we could communicate a bit better! We had a great time watching the rugby games! It has been a hot minute since I have seen 15’s being played on an international level. We watched Army beat Navy and then the All Blacks absolutely smashed the USA Eagles. But it is always a treat to get to see the haka. We knew one of the players on the Eagles…he is originally from South Africa but went to high school in the Omaha area and played with both Joe and Tim in high school. It was awesome watching Hanco play again…and at such a high level. We bumped into a few of the Eagles at the airport the following day and stopped to talk with them. Nice blokes. We had a fabulous time in Virginia and will be going back for a big Messina gathering during the Christmas break. I didn’t take my camera with me, so these are all phone photos!

The reason I have been so quiet on this blog is not because something is wrong, but because something is RIGHT. I have been feeling pretty good. I am doing at least 1-2 classes at the YMCA each day. Some are not for the faint of heart. I did a zumba class tonight that melted the waterproof mascara right off my face…true story. I rarely wear makeup but decided to splurge and wear makeup to the dentist today. I forgot I had it on until it started melting off my face along with a gallon of sweat. I have found classes that I like and I keep busy…but am whipped at night. But all of this to say that I have been busy. We went on three quick out-of-state trips all in a row, and I think it has taken me three weeks to catch up with work, home, and life in general. The first trip was a day trip to Kansas to help move Joe and Michelle into their new house in Missouri. It was a 25 minutes drive between moves, but it was easier with Rich’s big truck and trailer packed full of their furniture. We drove 3 hours down…helped for about 5 hours then drove back home…just in time for me to go to my LiveStrong class at the YMCA. It was a long day but it was really nice to help out a little bit.

Rich, Lily, and I went on a 5 day trip to Colorado in the middle of October – a couple of days after going to Kansas/Missouri. We flew into Denver and then rented a car and drove to Estes Park and then Rocky Mountain National Park to as far as the roads were open….as we hit snow almost immediately. We had done our homework looking around at places that we wanted to see and maybe have me photograph. Some we weren’t able to go to because of the weather and the roads being closed. Some we just happened upon and were magical. We got to see some very good friends on this trip. Rich and I decided that outside of Nebraska, our biggest friend base is hands-down in Colorado. We both lived and worked there for 4 years and many of our friends from other assignments have retired there. We stayed our first night in Edwards, Colorado with dear friends we knew in Norway. What a wonderful time spent with them as the snow flew outside. It was great to catch up in person. Susan and Tom McClurg…we treasure you both! We then went to Aspen to spend some time at the Maroon Bells. This is a set of three mountains that is well-known to photographers. We took photos there in January when we rode snowmobiles there. However, with so much snow, you couldn’t even see the lake at the base of the mountains. So we went to try and capture the aspens when they were yellow. We were a little late for that…but did get some wonderful photos. Rich, God bless him, got up at 6 a.m. to take me to the Bells to take sunrise photos. It was 8 degrees and dark when we arrived. I set up shop next to a man originally from Prague, Czech Republic. That’s one of the cities I have spent a few days at! We had a really nice chat trying to forget that our fingers were freezing. We wound our way around down to Manitou Springs for our last couple of days. We had dinner with my first karate family…my kempo ohaha…and it was WONDERFUL to hug these people. We had practiced martial arts together with these two families almost 20 years ago. The Maxons and the Lindsays….so, so, so good to gather for a meal with you all! During the daytime we did things like Pike’s Peak Cog ride to the top (the air is quite thin up there – and cold!), hike in Garden of the Gods, Florissant Fossil Beds, the Air Force Academy, and the Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center. We also got together with some military friends. We had the Bakers (BB flew with Rich at the USAFA) and then two nurses that I was on active duty with at Scott AFB as 2LT’s and one of our charge nurses (a major at the time). That was such a blast from the past to have all of us former Air Force nurses from Scott AFB Med Center together again. When we made our way back up to Denver, we had to stop and have one final meal with a really good friend, Kevin Graefe. We met in college at the University of New Mexico….then we were stationed together at Scott AFB, IL, and have always kept in touch. They were in Parker while we were in Colorado Springs years ago, so we got together often then. Again, it was like years melted away in minutes. It was a fast and furious trip to Colorado and I loved every moment of it. I have probably way too many photos from the trip and I will most likely bore you with the ones below. However, it was a really great time and I am so glad Lily is getting to meet some of the good people that we have surrounded ourselves with during our married lives. It is always nice to hear her say, “I can see why you like that person so much!”

If you know me at all, you know that I feel pretty strongly about the people who are willing to serve our great nation. My family comes from a long line of military service. My grandparents, my father, my uncles, a cousin, myself and my husband, and now my son….that’s the Neitzke side. My father-in-law, Rich’s uncles, his siblings and their spouses, are all military. Four generations on one side…three on another. It is the life I have lived and I really don’t understand living in one house all your life or going to one school…or growing up with your grandparents, aunts and uncles living around the corner and seeing them every week for Sunday dinner. That is as foreign to me as much of my nomadic life is to many of you. When we get together, we tend to playfully jab each other verbally about their prospective service…why the Army is better than the Navy or Air Force or vice versa. It is just how things work in military families.

I want to thank all my family and friends who are military veterans. Honestly, if you aren’t military and you are my friend, you are the exception. My military friends have become like family to me…especially those whom we were stationed with overseas, so far from our families. We adapted to life in Asia and Europe with the help of our military friends. We went through the pain of putting down a dog for the first time….adopting a puppy or two….adopting a DAUGHTER…and having kids in high school….all with the support of our military friends. I remember calling a friend, Deb, to ask how to use the teeny tiny Norwegian washers and dryers….because it was taking HOURS to do laundry and two teen boys in sports was a nightmare scenario. Same friend let me cry on her shoulder after we had to put our Weimaraner, Aiko, down suddenly just 2 months after arriving in Norway. We had people who threw me a baby shower on Okinawa when we were adopting Lily because I had no baby stuff…or girl stuff. People jumped in to do everything from carting us to and from the Naha International Airport, to standing in as proxies for her Godparents when she was baptized. (Lily was our Chinese daughter – waiting to be an American – baptized in Okinawa, Japan by a Nigerian priest in the U.S. Air Force – yes…light a candle and sing Kumbaya – it is a beautiful thing!) When Joe and Rich both had incidences in Norway that needed emergency care…then extended care…I had friends to call to ask about the Norwegian healthcare system. My mom, a former military wife of 30 years, sent me vanilla and brown sugar in the mail when we lived in Norway because I just couldn’t find it and wanted to still do Christmas baking. And travel or looking for a new assignment? There is always someone who has been there or knows someone who has…to get you the real information of where to go…what not to do, etc. The best friend that comes in on her night off to be with you while you are in labor with your first child and admits him to the nursery and gives him his first bath (now a neonatal nurse practitioner and Godmother to said first child!) The nurse friend that comes and watches your infant because the babysitter is sick and mom & dad are both military and have to report to duty…..and Kris, God bless her, her fiancé had just had his wisdom teeth taken out so she was watching over him as well! Then there is the other vertically challenged bridesmaid at a Naval Academy wedding who got relegated to the end of the line with me…who was a Naval Academy midshipmen and I was getting ready to swear in to the Air Force….we have only ever met at this wedding nearly 30 years ago and we are still friends – as it would be of course with two military women standing next to one another for hours on end during a rehearsal, wedding, and reception. These are the bonds I have with my military family – unbreakable and unforgettable.

Rich and I both spent this Veteran’s Day morning at our respective dentist offices. What were the chances? I am happy to say we are both cavity free and I am happy to put that in my rear view mirror for 6 more months. I have talked to my dad and my son today, thanking them over the phone for their service. I am so proud of both of them. My dad wore his uniform to a Veteran’s Day recognition ceremony at my nephew’s middle school yesterday.

Okay last one today for photos….can you tell I am playing catch up? This was from my back deck and then the street in front of my house a few nights ago….actually Sunday night, because Rich was elsewhere in Omaha and called me to tell me to go look at the sky. I was already out with my camera taking photos! It was crazy beautiful! God’s canvas….even in the city.

I mentioned about a month ago, right prior to Labor Day weekend, I traveled three hours down to Lawrence, Kansas to see a sunflower farm I had been reading about for 3 years. At some point you just have to go. I got there during the daylight hours and stayed until the sun set fully. I was the last person out of the field. Anyhow, I have finally sifted through the photos and done the post processing. I was there alone in a sunflower field for almost 2 hours so I took a lot of photos! Anyways, as fall starts to fade a bit, here are some of my favorites!

A couple of weeks ago, an alpaca-loving friend of mine, Kathy, got a group of gals together to head out to the countryside to visit an alpaca farm. Evidently it was alpaca weekend, so there was quite a to-do about the whole thing. I took a ton of photos. The owners are wonderful and sell alpaca fur (more like fuzz) made items. I got Lily a teddy bear that feels like a cloud. I also got a few ornaments for Christmas made by a lady I met there. We met the girls…then the guys….then the studs. We fed them carrots and got to walk in the pens and pet them. Their farm is only 30 minutes from Omaha and yet it is hilly and spacious and just gorgeous….although I wouldn’t want their driveway in the winter! The farm is up on a hill. The wee little white cria (baby alpaca -see….you have already learned something!) with the eye patch wasn’t doing so well…stumbled and fell while we were there. It was absolutely adorable, but had an eye infection that ended up in sepsis. So this is a tiny tribute to this little guy who was not long on this earth but was adored by many.

Okay, it was yesterday, but I have been busy! October 11th, 2019, I had that fateful ER visit that changed my life forever, finding out I had masses throughout my body. I knew it was bad then…it wasn’t until a month later I found out it was Leiomyosarcoma…and still a month after that that it was stage IV. But, I have picked October 11th as the crapaversary date.

So much has happened since then….surgeries….biopsies….outpatient procedures….two different kinds of chemotherapies over 16 months….a trip to the Mayo clinic….countless CT scans, PET scans, and MRIs….dozens of appointments with doctors and specialists and nurse practitioners. All in all, with a Google MD life expectancy of 2-4 years, I am doing pretty well at the 2 year fighting point. My doctors believe that the “benign” tumor removed from my uterus during my hysterectomy in 2015 had LMS in it. It was just such a large tumor that they didn’t thinly slice all of it. So I may have had this for years longer….but have been aware and fighting it for 2 years. Either way, I am feeling pretty good. I have gone back to the gym and have been working out like a normal person, thanks to the pushing and prodding of the YMCA LiveStrong program for cancer survivors and thrivers. I actually took 8 classes at the Y last week! I spent my crapaversary traveling 3 hours down to Kansas City, Kansas at 0600 with Rich in our truck and trailer to move Joe and Michelle’s furniture to their new home in Lee’s Summit. That took about 5 hours…all of it in the rain…then we drove 3 hours home in time for me to make my 6 p.m. LiveStrong class. I helped schlepp boxes and chairs and bins, etc up and down stairs. I was a hot, sweaty mess, but I was able to be there and able to give a helping hand, which was a big morale booster for me. I was so happy to be able to be there to help out, even if it was in a small way.

So yes, I am still on the right side of the dirt and this is my crapaversary photo I put up last year and thought I would adopt it from here on out for as long as I can use it. Thanks to everyone for their support, prayers, and love. I feel it and am sending back my own love to you!

I have decided to spend some time driving the countryside and taking photos. I love the country….especially during this time of year. So I went for a drive on Friday towards Tekemah and in and around Blair, Nebraska’s countryside. Here are some of the photos I took! Here is a piece of Nebraska for all of you!

My parents came for a week long visit the second week of September. I took them for a ride to Tekemah, Nebraska to visit the Master’s Hand store and have the world’s greatest cinnamon rolls. We also went down to Lincoln one day to tour the International Quilt Museum and to take a stroll around the Sunken Gardens. On a cooler morning we also walked around the OPPD Arboretum here in Omaha. They were even up to going to one of Rich’s softball games. Our store has a recreational league team that plays on Sunday evenings. I think they managed to make the game that started at 9:30 p.m.!

It was really great having them around for a visit. Sometimes you want to have your parents see what you have done with your life as an adult and visit your home (and there is the flipside as well – sometimes you don’t!) but when you have terminal cancer, you just want to spend as much time with your friends and family as you can. My dad had a mini stroke (TIA) about 13 years ago and it affected his vision. Both his eyesight, his memory, and his general awareness of what is going on is failing pretty quickly. I don’t know how much longer he will know who I am….as I don’t live near enough to see him often. Travel is hard on him – going to new places, even if he has been there a few times…it is always new to him, and he gets even more confused. It is a big job for my mom to travel with him. Thankfully, they are willing to fly and we were able to get wheelchairs to meet them at the gates in Chicago to get them to their connecting plane. (They flew direct to us from Houston but in flying to see my sister in Indiana they had to connect in Chicago). We’ll be going down to see them with all the kids in November for Thanksgiving, which we are all looking forward to.

While my parents were here, I took several photos of them when we were out and about. I have put many of them on here for our other relatives to see. These photos were taken a few days after their 53rd wedding anniversary!

I am somewhat behind on all the things that have been going on in my life, but I am slowing catching up! I want to first go over some most recent news…stuff that is only minutes old. I always text my family members first, then wait a bit before putting information on here, but the text has been sent, so I am golden!

Rich and I met with my sarcoma specialist from the Mayo Clinic via zoom about 30 minutes ago. He went over the results of the CT scans of my abdomen, pelvis, and chest that was done back on Sept 9th here in Omaha. His radiologists agree that everything is stable…maybe even a bit smaller. He was happy that I had my COVID booster and my flu shot. We agreed to give my immune system a break and put the idea of a shingles vaccine on the back burner for awhile. It always jolts me a bit when he talks about me having advanced cancer because I am able to be so active right now. I know that will not always be the case, and I no longer wake up every morning thinking this was all a bad dream…but for now I am feeling pretty good. I told him about my magic supplement, MSM, that is allowing me to have some joy back in my life. It really has cut down the pain in my joints tremendously. So much so that I started the Live Strong program at the YMCA. I have also taken a POUND class where you do aerobics with drum sticks…quite fun but I was sore for…well, I am still sore! I am trying a Zumba class tonight which may or may not be embarrassing. I feel like I have rhythm and am pretty coordinated, but I bet everyone thinks the same thing! We shall see… The Mayo doctor is excited that I have good quality of life and we’ll rescan and evaluate in December. So this is all good news.

Friends…I read a Bible verse recently that really stuck with me. Proverbs 18:24 says, “There are friends who pretend to be friends, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” So many “friends” of mine dropped out of my life when I was diagnosed with cancer. Some of them were not surprising but others lack of interest in my well-being was really hurtful…and some of them so deeply that it is still hurting me today, nearly 2 years later. However, there have been some really wonderful surprises as well. People who I never thought would step up and walk by my side have done so. One friend, who has been in my life for 24 years, through thick and thin, and Minnesota blizzards….and raising 6 kids between us with husbands with jobs that took them away quite often…is my friend Judi. She lives in Minnesota and we don’t get to see each other often enough….but goodness, the months and years just melt away whenever we are able to talk. She and her husband were visiting a city 2.5 hours away from Omaha and made the time to drive to see Rich and me for a couple of hours before heading back. It was so great to see her…as you can see, we are both grinning like idiots. I laugh as I think about a song I used to sing in the Girl Scouts a million years ago when I was a brownie…..’make new friends, but keep the old….one is silver and the other’s gold.’ She’s my golden oldie, and I mean that in the nicest way!

Tallinn has a friend as well. Our mailman, Tony, is the nicest guy. He stops whenever we are out and about and gives Tallinn (and all the other dogs in the neighborhood) a treat. Tallinn knows the word “mailman” and knows a mail truck on sight. I have avoided every taking him behind our store on the weekends because we have the 2nd largest post office in Omaha that shares a wall with us. There are DOZENS of mail trucks parked back there on the weekends. Poor Tallinn would probably stroke out if he saw them all. It is bad enough when we are walking in another neighborhood and I have to tell him “That’s not your mailman.”, when he sees one driving around. It is like having a five year old and an ice cream truck comes around the neighborhood giving out free ice cream everyday. Tony will even leave a dog treat on top of the package he leaves on our front doorstep. I have given him boxes of dog treats in the past, and as I type this, I think it is time to help refresh Tony’s stores again. Anyhow, he’s the best.