This is going to be a proud momma boasting blog…so you are forewarned! Yesterday afternoon we drove down to Olathe, Kansas. This is about a 3 hour drive from us. Lily drove a little more than half of the way down. She needs the driving practice…although I think all three of us were happy to exit the vehicle when we arrived! I survived the other two…I will survive this one learning to drive as well. (this is my daily…sometimes hourly mantra.) The city of Olathe, Kansas put us up for the night at the Embassy Suites Hotel in honor of our son, Joe, graduating from their firefighting academy. How nice is that?? We snuck down to the conference center and got to give Joe a hug and be introduced to his academy fellow recruits. There were 10 in all…from all ages and walks of life. Joe promptly handed me his keys to place in my purse (some things never change) as he got all gussied up for the graduation. We, in turn, went up to our room and also got gussied up for his graduation.

We met Michelle, his wife, at the graduation and sat together as the ceremony started. I also handed her Joe’s keys and said, “Tag! You’re it!”. The American and Kansas flags were brought in by firefighters carrying axes before and following. The color guard was led in by a Scottish bagpiper and drum duo. It’s the kind of thing that makes goosebumps pop up on your arms. It was really cool. We then said the pledge of allegiance. All the while, all 10 of the recruits’ gear were lined up across the stage. We learned there are a LOT of chiefs in the Olathe Fire Department and most were there. Not only is this a graduation, but it is also an assignment night (which is more exciting for the recruits….to find out who their fire chief will be, what station they will be assigned to, and what shift they will be on). The OFD chaplains were there and prayed over the recruits giving them the advice to seek the Lord for strength when they need to. Each of the recruits had a family member pin on their OFD badge (a special one for the year 2021 because they are celebrating their 50th anniversary as a fire department this year) and received a framed diploma. Joe was recognized as being a military member. Five out of ten of the recruits have military service. Joe was also recognized as having legacy fire service. This means he has a family member who also serves as a firefighter. This would be my brother, Craig Neitzke, who is a LT in the Cy-Fair Fire Department in Houston, TX. Joe was given a special coin by one of the chiefs to give to his Uncle Craig from the Olathe Fire Department. Four of the ten recruits had this honor. The Captain then swore them in. They then were given envelopes (they were taped under their chairs) to open in front of everyone on stage with their assignments. After cake and photos, Joe got to sign his firefighter’s oath of office and Michelle witnessed it for him. A copy went to him to keep and the other goes into his file. We then went out to dinner and had a great rest of the evening catching up with Joe and Michelle. They left this morning to head to Ft. Chaffey, Arkansas, so Joe could catch up with his Army National Guard Unit before they go to Fort Polk, LA (yes, my old stomping grounds – where I graduated from high school) for 4 weeks of training at JRTC. He will start his job at OFD on shift A, station 1 (the big house), under Chief Simmons. Joe will be learning a lot in such a big station and is really looking forward to getting his career underway with OFD!

I can’t even begin to say how proud I was of Joe last night. This is really a class act fire department who shows compassion, kindness, and professionalism in all they do. I am blessed that he was accepted there and have some great mentors and friends surrounding him. Joe’s best friend, Zac, is also a firefighter and now paramedic (whoop whoop) on the other side of the border in Missouri. Those two…just so proud of them both! Here are several photos from last night’s ceremony.

What a wonderful weekend! My Independence Day weekend started out Saturday morning outside my church. A large group of us gathered to say the Patriotic Rosary. If you are not familiar with it, it is one of my favorite prayers for our nation. Each rosary has 5 decades. We have 50 states. So each states is particularly prayed for as we go through our rosary. In between the decades, we pray for different levels of government leaders, have a short reading of a famous U.S. citizen regarding prayer in our nation, and we usually sing a patriotic song in it’s entirety: the Battle Hymn of the Republic, My Country Tis of Thee, the National Anthem, etc. I have a link to an example of the Patriotic Rosary here: http://www.sacredheartmilledgeville.org/Freedom%20Rosary%20and%20Litany.pdfToday we went to Mass and then later went to the Ralston 4th of July parade. We had only been to it twice and it was usually HOURS long. I think every fire truck in the eastern side of the state was in the parade today. One of the ambulances actually had to leave the parade route and leave, sirens blaring, for a call. There were some horses and riders, clowns, 10 million Shriners, and a couple of bands. It was much much shorter this year, but it was really fun to get out and see everyone.

The pastor of our parish, Fr. Mark Nolte, said a few things today that really resonated with me. You know how the word “love” is overused. Love is something special and sacred….yet we love tv, pizza, chocolate, football, whatever. We use the word all the time and the specialness of it is somewhat worn away by overuse. Freedom is another one of those words. I am free to do this or that….free to be me. Freedom isn’t free. Ask any military member or their family that question. In my humble opinion, our nation is a hot mess right now…and has been for a good decade or more. We have so many things that unite us yet dwell solely on the things that divide us. Every year I think about our founding fathers…those men brave enough to meet and start a new country….what they would think of how we have moved to today. Goodness, I just go back to my grandparents and imagine what they would think of how this country is currently acting. What would they think? What would they say? So today I pray for our nation. I pray for peace. I pray for understanding and love. I don’t want to sound ungrateful though….I know I live in a wonderful country. So my prayers also are lifted in thanksgiving. I have children who can grow up to pursue whatever career they want. They are able to be educated and worship whenever and wherever they desire. They are able to travel freely and say what is in their hearts. That is a true blessing. So on our country’s 245th birthday, I pray with thanksgiving for our great nation and it’s continued healing and perseverance.

After getting pretty much caught up at work and reacquainted with our dog (whom I missed terribly), Lily and I set out to spend the afternoon in Lincoln this last Thursday afternoon. Lily finished her classroom portion of driver’s ed while we were in our last few days before heading to Florida. She needed more practice driving though. When the boys were practicing driving, we lived in Bellevue, Nebraska…about 25 minutes south of Omaha and a bit more wide open and rural. Omaha, not so much. Joe, my oldest son, swore he would teach her how to drive…and he has taken her out a couple of times when he has visited. He lives 3 hours away though, and he is in a firefighter’s academy for 12 weeks…so he is off the hook. Who is the wiggling worm trying to squirm her way off the proverbial hook? Yeah, that would be me. Sigh. BIG SIGH. I have had her drive most of our errands. She works at our store and she drives there and back with me or Rich in the car. She drives back and forth to the grocery store with me. She got to practice driving in the pouring rain the other day which was great experience for her….and life altering for me. I figured at 1245 on a Thursday afternoon, the highway wouldn’t be too congested so I let her drive us down to Lincoln. My life really only passed before my eyes twice. For someone with terminal cancer, that’s pretty good, I would say. She actually did a really good job and she has a healthy fear of going so fast down the highway, which is good. For those of you who don’t know my daughter, Lily, she was born with only one hand. Her left arm stops about two inches below her elbow. She is 5 feet tall with shoes on, so she is also a little thing. We have been trying to find the best options for turn signals and moving the steering wheel easier. She has a suicide knob (like they used to have on tractors) on the steering wheel to help out with turning a bit. Rich and I think we have designed an soft, yet firm extension for the turning signal so she doesn’t have to let go of the wheel or have to lean so far forward to adjust it. Anyhow, she is doing great and will be helping us to drive long drives coming up in the next few weeks. She’ll have plenty of time under her belt by the time the driving instructor picks her up on August 5th for her first hour on the road.

We drove to Lincoln to see the Sunken Gardens. It is listed as one of the top 300 gardens to see in the United States. I went in April when they were all tulips planted there and the fruit blossom trees were all in bloom. It was really beautiful. I met a fellow photographer there who lives in Lincoln. He told me to come back at the end of June and see it again…that it would have all the summer flowers planted and blooming and the raised brick ponds would be filled with water (they were actually filling them with hoses while we were talking in April) and the lily pads would be blooming and the Koi fish would be swimming. Lily and I had a wonderful time walking around and seeing the thousands of plants they had there. The koi fish would come right up to the surface and glub glub at Lily. She said she felt like SHE was the fish in the fish bowl being looked at!

On the way back home, we traversed some random gravel back roads trying to find our way to the back side of an abandoned barn off the highway. We stumbled upon the Wildlife Safari, which is part of the Henry Doorly Zoo here in Omaha. It is obviously very separate, as they are dozens of miles apart, but you can drive around and see elk and deer and buffalo. They have some birds as well. There was nearly no one there, so we decided to go through the park. Afterwards, we FINALLY found the access road to behind the barn and got a few shots. I would like to go back at sunset some day and get some really wonderful shots of the sun setting over this barn. We shall see. Anyhow, here are some of the photos from my phone from the trip to Lincoln and back with Lily a few days ago.

We recently returned from a week-long trip to Destin, Florida. Rich’s parents live there and his sister and some of her family live close by as well. Rich’s brother and his family caravanned down and we had some nephews fly in from New England and Washington state as well as Tim from Colorado. Joe and Michelle, my oldest son and daughter-in-law had to do the adulting thing and couldn’t get off of work this time and they were missed. At any one time there were 20+ of the Messina Clan out and about terrorizing the area. We had a great time. It did rain several times but we never had a wash out day while we were there. We ate together for most meals and I, personally, managed to be in some form of water such as the ocean, the bay, or a pool for all but one day. My suit came home wrapped in a plastic bag because it was still wet. That is how it should be! It is hard to believe that the youngest in the clan right now is going into 8th grade. Mom and Dad Messina celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary on April 1st. The last time we all got together like this in Florida was for their 50th. I am only sharing pictures from my phone right now. I have yet to go through my camera and edit those photos. We were on the beach for a full moon and we were also in a wonderful location for sunsets. My Aunt Susan lives about an hour or so away in Florala, AL, and we were able to get together for dinner one night as well. It was a really nice trip and I am still finding sand in my purse…in the suitcases…all sorts of places. At least it is the soft, white, sugary sand! Rich and Lily will be going back for Labor Day this year. Rich and I have decided that we are going to make a bigger effort to see our folks more often. My folks are heading up to Omaha in September! Should be a wonderful time for a visit! They can experience was Husker Nation is all about! Here are some random shots during our stay in Florida.

Okay folks, I am playing catch up now! Nothing bad has happened…I have just been out living my best life and got behind on posting here! Here are some pictures from our game at CWS. For those of you not from Omaha, the College World Series of Baseball is played here in Omaha during the last third of the month of June. The top 12 college baseball teams meet together to play in a tournament to see who is crowned the best in college baseball. We ended up going to one of the first days of play. Rich then took a coworker and went to game 3 of the finals and watched the Mississippi State Bulldogs win the national title. The CWS tournament has been played in Omaha since 1950. It was sorely missed last year when it was cancelled due to COVID. We have a huge influx of visitors from the fan base of the teams who come to compete and also just baseball enthusiasts from all over. We had the pleasure of meeting lots of out-of-state visitors at our store looking to buy baseball gear. (They know where to go to get the best deals!) We had hot dogs and dippin’ dots and had a fantastic time cheering these young men on! If you ever get a chance to go, you should! It is such a fabulous time and we try to go to at least one game every year. It is called (appropriately) “The Greatest Show on Dirt.”

I would like to wish all of you fathers out there a very happy Father’s Day! I would like to highlight two important fathers in my life….my dad, Walt Neitzke, and my husband, Rich Messina.

My dad was born shortly after WWII and was raised as a young boy with a Navy pilot dad. He has an older sister, a younger sister, and two younger brothers. The moved around from places like Pensacola to San Diego and Hawaii, with home always being rural Michigan. He met my mom at Breckenridge High School and when he joined the army as a career after college, she went with him. My dad was an airborne ranger…that is code speak for “bad ass” as far as military standards go. I remember going to watch him jump when he was on the jump team with the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, NC as a kid. He told me later on that he wasn’t fond of heights. He hated being at the top of the Eiffel Tower….yet he could hurtle himself out of a perfectly good airplane. My dad worked a lot and he expected a lot from his kids. I still don’t have lampshades in my house to this day because of having to dust the pleated lampshades growing up. That is okay because it was a lesson learned. Every time we moved, my parents would pull out the new yellow pages and search for the nearest Missouri Synod Lutheran Church. We would find a church home…and make it a church family by being actively involved. He was a strong leader of our family and provider. Now he is a gentler man, slowed by age and a mind that is unfortunately fading faster than his body is. Love you, Dad. This photo is of the two of us taken 5 years ago or so.

Rich, my husband, where do I even begin? He has worked so hard to provide for his three kids and me. He worked in the Air Force for over two decades and then went into business for himself…with no retail experience, and has made a really good go of it. Although sometimes I feel like he is a little kid in an adult man’s body, he makes sure that there is a competitive feel for just about anything…board games, exercise, joke telling…etc. He keeps life interesting and has taken all of us around the world where we have learned about new languages, cultures, and foods. (seriously…the kids have been to about 2 dozen countries and he and I have been to about 45) Let’s put it this way….if you are walking through the forest and there is a vine hanging from a tree….you can just about bet that Rich is going to swing on it. Road less traveled? He’s going to take it and drag you along with you. You are guaranteed to have a story when you are done. I have hundreds of those stories and so do the kids. When we all get together and remanence about those crazy stories….it is just the best. So happy Father’s Day to my favorite guy…the father of my kids, Rich. Here is a picture of Rich living his dream weekend playing in an over 40 hockey tournament this past weekend in Omaha. That grin says it all. Love you!

On Friday I was able to meet with my local oncologist and tell him we would keep going with what we had been doing. He called me a “boring cancer patient” which he told me was a good thing…and a compliment. I got my Lupron shot and then I was out of there for another month.

We had a good soaking rain Friday morning, which was fabulous as it has been very hot and dry for the last couple of weeks. It was great for my new driveway to cure, but goodness, we needed that rain. It cooled things down a couple of degrees (it has 10-12 degrees hotter than average for over a week now) and allowed the humidity to drop which was blissful. I have still managed to get my walks in, it just has to be early in the morning.

Friday night I was able to attend my first live Nazareth group in about 18 months. See here for what a Nazareth group is: https://nazarethgroups.com . I have been a part of this group for several years and they are like family to me. We were able to meet via zoom part of the time, but wow, that did not even come close to replacing the tight hugs I received and gave out to these wonderful people. With cancer and COVID over the last 18 months or so, it has been tough. Even though I was pretty involved in my parish, I felt like I was pretty much forgotten….except for these people. We are a pretty tight knit group and I love them to pieces. It was like my birthday and Christmas wrapped into one.

I have spoken with my kids this weekend and they are doing well. Adulting is hard and they are managing any curve balls being sent their direction. Rich was in an over 40 hockey tournament this weekend and I was able to make it to two of his games. They didn’t win, but they had fun and he has slept well every night. Lily starts driver’s ed classes this week. You have been warned.

I started taking fish oil to help with the joint pain per my sarcoma specialist. I used to take it all the time, but went off it before my first surgery and never went back on it. He also suggested massage therapy. I found our old foot massager and managed to struggle my way through 30 minutes of it last night. It made a HUGE difference on my feet. The pain has been reduced by at least half if not more. I am going to try and use it everyday. With as much walking as I do each day, it probably it a wise choice. Anyhow, I have been blessed so greatly as of late, and just wanted you all to know I am doing well.

I just got off a zoom meeting with my sarcoma specialist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. (Did you know there are 3 Mayo clinics in the U.S.? Arizona, Minnesota, & Florida – just in case you need to know this to win a trivia game some day.) I had been checking every morning and every afternoon this week on my patient portal for the Mayo radiological report. It never showed up. I wanted to have them verify what the local radiologist has seen…that my pelvic tumors are shrinking. My specialist (who I absolutely adore and trust, by the way) said he didn’t even bother to have it read and measured by a radiologist because it was obvious to the naked eye that they were shrinking…which is AWESOME. He said out loud what I had been keeping pent up inside….”At least your tumors didn’t double in size.” That has been known to happen….a lot, actually. LMS is a fickle cancer. It is like playing whack-a-mole with treatments. With any treatment, you have a 30% chance it will shrink, 30% chance it will be stable and stay the same, and a 30% chance it will grow….on chemotherapy. I can’t imagine anything worse than having to go through the horrible treatments and side effects of a chemotherapy to then find out that it not only didn’t work, but it GREW. I hear about that so often on my LMS support group online. So it is working and working quite well. He said it normally doesn’t really become effective (the hormone treatment) until several months into treatment so all of this looks very promising at 10 weeks in. So we are going to continue to stay the course. He gave me a few suggestions about the joint pain. He was expecting that I would have some issues with that, as it is a very common side effect of anastrozole. He also eased my mind a bit with COVID vaccines and what I should and shouldn’t do. So on to the traveling part of my summer! We have a lot planned and I can’t wait to share it all with you in words and photos.

Tomorrow I go and visit my local oncologist and get my next lupron shot for the month.

Rich, Tallinn, and I walked over 5 miles this morning. We went pretty early but it was still pretty warm. I paused on this path and saw the sun shining through the trees and felt it applied to this day and how I feel right now. The sun is shining bright through the shadow of the trees…shedding rays of sunshine in the darker places. This totally summed up how I feel.

My parents go to a senior Bible Study on Wednesdays at their church down in Cypress, TX. They always have a praise report….a list of things to be prayerfully happy about. Today I have several. First off, I went out to lunch with a good friend I hadn’t seen or been able to talk to in person in quite awhile. We went to Shirley’s Diner….evidently a staple in Omaha, but I had never heard of it. Now I have reconnected physically with my friend, Erika, (thanks so much for lunch!) and I have a new place to venture to. I also saw an dear friend there from my days at Fort Crook Elementary. It was so awesome to see Viv and give her a hug! See? All good things! We are in the process of having our driveway replaced and it is looking great so far. The new windows are going in at the store this week as well, and they look great. Rich hired a new person and it looks like he will be a good fit…so that will allow Rich and his managers to not have to work so many weekends. Every person helps to lighten the load for everyone. I have been walking Tallinn to the store 2-3 times a week to work for a few hours at a time. I don’t usually work with customers, as our city mask mandate has expired, but I try and get out as much inventory from the storeroom onto the floor as I can…the kind of jobs others don’t always have time to do because we have been so busy. It keeps me active, helpful (I hope) to others, and involved in the store physically. The weather has been warm and sunny lately so I have been spending some time on my back porch with Tallinn listening to podcasts, writing, reading, or listening to audiobooks. I went to a new optometrist and he got me squared away with new glasses and contacts that actually allow me to see clearly. It really is the small things that are such blessings sometimes! I can’t tell you how appreciative I am of that….having 20//20 vision. I haven’t been able to see well for the last year and after going back to a different place 2 times, I gave up and just dealt with it. I am pleasantly surprised at how nicely I can see now. I thought it may have been the chemo affecting my vision. It was just not the correct prescription for my eyes. The biggest praise report thus far has to do with my progress on this new drug I am taking. I had my 3 month scans of my chest, abdomen and pelvis on Monday morning. I have called Bergan Mercy to have my scans sent to the Mayo Clinic as my sarcoma specialist likes his radiologist to read the reports independently as he knows more of what to look for. I would think it would be about the same as the results I got dropped into my local patient chart this afternoon. The local radiologist said all my tumors are either stable or show some shrinkage. Pretty good for only 10 weeks on this medication. This tiny white pill I take every night which makes my joints ache so badly and gives me more fatigue than the last chemo regimen I was on, seems to be working. I will take it…and gladly. There is no cap on taking this med, so I could potentially be on it for years, as long as it is working and I can withstand the side effects. For now, this leaves me 3 more months of peace of mind. I will meet via zoom with my sarcoma specialist on Thursday. Then I meet my local oncologist and get my lupron shot on Friday and I am guessing I will be continuing on the same treatment plan for 3 more months. I have a lot of traveling to do in the next two months. I think I am home for less than 10 days in July. I have a lot of photos of random life with the Messina family to catch up on and I hope to post those soon. When I lived in Norway….and then over the last year when I was not allowed to be in the sun because of my chemo I was on, I learned to drop everything and go outside when it is nice. I am spending a lot of time on my back porch with the dog. I have plenty to do inside but I can’t force myself to sit in the A/C doing computer work when I can be outside with the warmth of the sun on my face. It just feels too good. So I hope to catch up soon!

My Uncle Ken (my dad’s youngest sibling) and his wife, my Aunt Christine, stopped by our store this afternoon as they were passing through Omaha. We were able to sit and chat about all sorts of things. We also ended our visit holding hands and praying. It was a wonderful visit and I am so blessed to be able to see them! They live in Michigan and I hadn’t seen them in 4 years. This very likely could be the last time I see them, so there were lots of hugs.