10 Years- Cancer Free

 December 2, 2021 

A decade is ten years. Ten years is a long time.  These past ten years have been packed with special moments. I have watched my children perform in school plays and watched them complete several school projects.  I have watched my girls graduate from middle school.  I have watched my children become self-sufficient independent learners. I have watched my son play travel soccer and score a goal or two. I have watched my oldest tackle cross country and track during a global pandemic.  I have watched my middle child join a sport to be with her sister and grow as a runner.  I have visited with family and friends near and far. I have donated blood several times,  the most recent time for a dear friend who is on her own journey of survival. Come take a trip down memory lane with me- I tried to find a picture around this time each year to share my accomplishments with you.  

Year one 2012- I survived and celebrated the holidays with my family. Let’s be honest, getting through year one was a true accomplishment. 

   

Year two 2013- I finished my middle child’s quilt. I had created one for my oldest and knew I had to finish this project for my middle child. 

Year three 2014-  I raised close to 8,000 dollars for ChaiLifeline and ran a half of a half marathon with my sister-in-law in Las Vegas. 

Year four 2015--  Spent the holidays with my extended family.  I watched cousins get to visit with one another. 

Year five 2016-- Took a trip with Stephen to Rhode Island.  Even though the town was mostly closed due to it being the off season- it was nice to get away and explore some of the town. 

Year six 2017--Went snow tubing with friends. It was fun to be a kid again and watch the kids have  a blast sliding down the hill. 

Year seven 2018--Again I raised close to 10,000 dollars for ChaiLifeline.  Again I ran with my sister-in-law.  This time I ran with Stephen and my brother.  Technically I didn’t run with any of them but completed the race by myself.   This time I ran a half marathon.  I ran the entire race.  I took in the sites  and sounds of the Las Vegas strip at night.  I had always wanted to get the marathon covering that the runners received when they finished the race. It was no easy task, especially because my legs and feet hurt all the time but I achieved my goal.  I proudly own a 13.1 magnet. 

Year eight 2019--I baked 14 pies for Sharsheret with my girls.  This is a tradition that the entire family looks forward to.  The kids help me bake as well and transport the pies to the delivery spot. 

Year nine 2020--I taught from home from a computer for part of the year.  I taught both to a classroom filled with students as well as to a computer with students who were learning at home. I learned that my time at home with my children was precious and a once in a lifetime experience.  We had a lot of fun together.  Here is one example where  I got down in the snow with the kids. 

Year ten 2021--I cut off 14 inches of my hair to donate it.  Then I dyed some of it purple.  Thank you to Katee at Salon Deja Vu for talking me through this adventure.  Thank you Lisa for making it happen. I love the haircut and the purple. I will be back for more! 

 Very thankful and grateful to be able to celebrate 10 years cancer free. Celebrate with me--- live each day to its fullest, grab hold of those once in a lifetime experiences, and cherish time with your loved ones. Life is what you make out of it- don’t wait for it to happen, but make it happen. 

My Crazy but Perfect Family

Mementos

 Mementos  

Recently I was searching for a souvenir from my childhood. In the process I came upon some other important mementos. 

XC Race Results

When I was in high school my cross country coach would record our times, place, dates, and competition of the meets.  She would give us a large popsicle stick for us to keep with this information. Of course I recorded my info and made a scrapbook of my races that were printed in the newspaper.  However, I also kept my popsicle sticks as souvenirs to remember my high school XC races. 

Wow- look at that progress!

If you look closely at the popsicle sticks you can see that when I first started running XC I was not really that great.  I honestly started running to get in better shape for basketball which was my true love. Over time,  clearly my true love changed and I kept running to improve my running times.   I like to believe that I have instilled the attitude of “it doesn’t matter how slow you run- just run” in my children.  Even though my oldest daughter doesn’t like running with me and would rather go off on her own runs, it warms my heart that she wakes up early on a Sunday to hit the pavement.  I was so excited to show her my popsicle sticks. I always told her that when I started I was not very good but I stuck with it and put the time into getting better. If you look closely on 9-13-94 I ran a 29:28 for a 3.1 race. I know that I was a lot slower and would end my race well over 32 minutes. I know that I walked some in the beginning but on 9-13-94 I ran a 29:28.   I did improve throughout the season and got down to a 26:36.  However the real joy for me is looking at the following year when I ran 23:10 on 9-19-95 and came in 2nd for the meet. I was super excited to show these popsicle sticks to my daughter this past weekend. It was nice for me to remember the races but it was also nice for her to see that all the stories I have been telling her had hard evidence to back them up. 

Currently it takes me 23 minutes to run 2 miles but I still love to hit the roads.  Sundays are my favorite.  Even though I could sleep late, I love to get up early to beat the sun but I also love to have the roads to myself. I love listening to the birds chirp or see the foxes running when I am out running. Sometimes I even see my daughter running which really makes me smile. 

As I stated earlier, running was not my first true love.  Now though I would say it is one of the activities that makes me the happiest.  How did I get to this point in my life.  I wouldn’t be the runner I am today without several runners from my past and present. To start, my coach was by far the best coach I have ever had.  She always was encouraging me to keep at it and try my  hardest.  She made me feel important and a part of something important.  She started me towards my love of running. Of course there are the runners that I ran with in high school. There were the older girls Dana and Lisa who introduced me to the streets of Rockaway and gave me a goal to aspire to.  There were not too many girls my grade that I ran with except for Aileen. After the older girls graduated it was the youngins, Nikki, Christine, Lauren, Erin, Jessica, and Cheryl,  that provided encouragement and helped me achieve my goal. After high school and college there have been several people that have been my source of motivation.  Margaret has always been running.  I remember when I first started teaching with her she would always tell me about her runs and encourage me to keep at it.  She even got me to run a 10 miler which was a goal of mine. Her buddy Anne who is a cancer survivor is also a fellow runner who definitely has helped me with the attitude of “it doesn’t matter how slow you run- just get out there and move.” Also, there is  Lori who lives in my town and I see on the streets has been a great source of motivation.  She is definitely much faster than me but she would always run with me and always calls out to me when I am running and usually gives me that little push to finish my run hard. Lately, I have been running for my friend Nancy. She was recently diagnosed with Leukemia and has started her treatment. I know first hand how chemo takes a toll on your body.  I have been keeping her in my thoughts as I hit the streets.  Usually when I get to a spot in my run where I want to stop and just walk home, I think about what she has to go through and keep on running.  

Did a little more today than normal- 

Definitely happy to be done - very humid

Backstory-  Why did I find these popsicles and write a blog entry?   My oldest has been talking about wanting to go to Six Flags Great Adventure for several months now.  We discussed how possibly after she is vaccinated that it could be a possibility. Then the other day I get an email that her grade is taking a trip to Great Adventure.  I was super excited for her.  When I picked her up from track practice I told her about the time in high school that I went to Great Adventure. It was physics day at Great Adventure.  I remember taking my physics packet to the park and I remember having a fantastic time.  I was telling my daughter how I bought a souvenir. I tried to explain it to her.  My generation will remember this-  you know how when you get to a park there are always people to take your picture and try to get you to buy the picture.  Well I did and I got one of those mini magnifying cones (see picture). I remembered some of the people that I took the picture with but I couldn't remember everyone that I hung out with that day. I needed to find this souvenir to show it to my daughter.  I checked my usual memento spots without luck. I went to bed and couldn’t not stop thinking about it.  Bright and early I found the container that held my souvenir.  Of course I showed my daughter right away- she was super excited for me to disrupt her early in the morning to show her a picture of me from high school.  And in the same container were these popsicles that brought back so many memories. 

Stacey, Bruce, Jill, Me, Sara, Jen, Mike (Jason in the back) 

It has been a long time since my last entry.  If you have made it to the end of the blog, let me know if you enjoyed it and if you want to see more entries in the future.