It has been a while- A not so quick update on life

 It has been quite some time since I have sat down and blogged about my life. This past September, I started my 26th year of teaching.  I can’t believe that it has been 26 years. I can still remember my students from my very first year of teaching. In fact I had some of these student’s children in my classes over the past couple of years. In October, I got a student teacher. Let’s just say it has been a learning experience for everyone.  

I have learned to be patient with the next generation of teachers. Honestly, I am happy and thankful that there are young individuals that want to take on the career of teaching.Teaching in 2026 is definitely not an easy career.  Even though at first, I tried to “return him” and be as “cold as ice” to scare him away, I don’t regret this experience. 

I hope my student  teacher has learned a lot from me- I know that I learned a lot from him. One thing for sure –– I still love my personal space!

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Here is what I hope he has learned from this experience. 

• Teaching is hard but rewarding

• You have to be flexible each and every day 

• You have to plan and expect to replan in the moment

• It is better to overplan than underplan

• Make sure you are ready for class before class starts

• You have to be able to PIVOT (IYKYK) all the time

• Building strong relationships with students will make or break your classroom experience

• Building strong relationships with parents will only make your teaching experience better

• It is not about the salary or the perks of the district, but more about your colleagues and who you get to work with everyday. I am so grateful that throughout my 26 years, I have had phenomenal colleagues. They have supported me through my good days as well as my bad days. 

• Some lessons bomb 

• Students appreciate honesty

• Students crave structure and order

• Respect is mutual

• A student mastering a difficult topic and watching it all start to click makes the hard days all worth it

• Middle school will keep you young

• Print out the positive notes and emails and read them on the bad days

• Teaching is hard but rewarding

For one last assignment, I had him write down some of the lessons that he learned throughout the year. I am glad that some of mine from the above list made his list. 

Then in December, I celebrated 14 years cancer free! It still amazes me how much time has gone by. I still believe the days are long but the years are short. 

This past April, I had the opportunity to join my daughters up at college and speak about my cancer diagnosis and recovery.  It was such an amazing experience to be a part of Fashion for a Cure. I truly loved watching women support women and raise money to help fight cancer. Thank you, Ruthie, for pushing me to do this and for helping make it all work out. Thank you, Elisheva, for being so supportive throughout the experience. Your stealing of my phone and taking a random photo shoot- helped calm my nerves and made me laugh. Thank you, Chabad of Binghamton, for having me and making me feel so welcome. 

While writing my speech, my daughters and I went through past blog pieces.  I had forgotten some of what I had written and it was really neat to listen to my daughters talk about the entries. I am really glad that I took the time in the moment to record the good, the bad, and the ugly, and of course the funny. Thank you, Mom, for taking the time and printing out all of the entries.

I was definitely nervous the days leading up to the speech.  I was definitely nervous on the ride to Binghamton. I was definitely  nervous the moments before I spoke. Even after I started speaking, I was still nervous. I know I am a teacher and I stand up in front of people all day long, however, giving a speech to a room full of adults was out of my comfort zone. 

Several adults came up to me after I had spoken and told me what my speech meant to them.  Young women came up to me and shared their thoughts.  Hearing all of these comments made all the nervousness worth it. 

Below is the speech that I gave for Fashion for a Cure.  I know it is long but it makes up for not writing my blog for a couple of years. 

 Good evening,

My name is Rachel Isler, the mother of Ruthie and Elisheva Isler and I am a breast cancer survivor. I was diagnosed at the age of 33. 

I often look at my life in two different time periods.  I look at it as “before cancer” and “after diagnosis.”  Every cancer patient has his or her own story with his or her own motivation to get them through the journey. I was very young when I was diagnosed. I had three small children, my youngest, Shua,  had just turned one. Mothers always take care of their children and after diagnosis, I struggled with being able to take care of my children in the way I did “before cancer.”  There were days that I was unable to get out of bed and days that I never left the couch.  There were days that I had to stay away from my children because I had little to no immune system and children are a breeding ground for germs. After I went back to work the struggles continued. Everyday I taught a full day, then went to radiation, picked up the two younger children and rushed home to get my oldest off the bus from school. At the time, it seemed impossible. I relied on my family, friends, and colleagues to help me navigate this seemingly impossible journey. Through it all, I had the goal of pushing onward to be there for Ruthie, Elisheva, and Shua, my children, my motivation. 

People often say that it takes a village to raise a family.  In my case this was absolutely accurate.  I am so grateful that I belonged to a Jewish community.  My Jewish community made sure that there were meals on the table and that my children were able to attend activities when necessary.  My community had young teens volunteer hours in my home, helping take care of my children while I rested and recovered.  There is no way I would have been able to heal properly without the help of my family, friends, and community members.  There is no way I would have been able to beat cancer without Stephen. Stephen is my husband and also my best friend. He was there with me from the start of the journey and held my hand through each stage. He went to doctor appointments with me.  He was my voice when I just couldn’t talk. He was the one who asked the hard questions.  And through it all, he continued to joke with me, helping me laugh and smile.  We all know that laughter is the best medicine.   

Sharsheret was also a big part of my journey.  Sharsheret means chain in Hebrew. Chains are made up of different links and Sharsheret helped link me to many valuable resources. They provided a busy box for my girls.  It included puzzles and coloring books and different activities to keep the girls happy while I was going to my treatments.  They provided me with some make up to help me feel pretty at a time when I didn’t particularly feel pretty.  Sharsheret also linked  me to other young women who had similar experiences as I was having. This was very important for my mental health. Even today, I am a resource for newly diagnosed breast cancer women. I am honored to be a link in their chain to help them fight cancer.  For the past ten years around Thanksgiving, my family and I have participated in my community's baking for Sharsheret. We usually will bake anywhere from 10-14 chocolate chip pies to help raise money for Sharsheret. 

As I mentioned earlier, my motivation was my children. I wanted to be there for them as they grew up. I wanted to see them reach their milestones such as  losing their first tooth, learning to ride a bike and graduating from kindergarten. I wanted to see them advance from 8th grade and graduate from high school. And pretty soon, I will see my oldest child graduate from Binghamton University.  Of course at the moment, I couldn’t see that far into the future.  It was a “take one day at a time” type of approach.  In the early days after diagnosis, I tried to focus on the positives of the day and be in the present. After my surgery that removed my cancer, I started to live life to its fullest. I took on the attitude of “seize the day.”  I wanted to make sure that my family and I were taking advantage of every possible moment. We made sure that we took family trips and cherished the time we spent together. 

From the very beginning of diagnosis, I started to blog my journey. The blog was a way to record what was happening as well as inform family and friends of my situation. I want to share a few stories that I blogged about. I have since forgotten about these stories, but my lovely daughters who have read through my blog have reminded me of them. 

Story #1 From May 6, 2012 

A few weeks ago I had to take a bone density test.  The medicine that I take lowers my bone density 3-5% each year.  A few days prior I called to schedule this test.  This is how the conversation went. 

Me” hi, I need to schedule a bone density test.” 

Very kind lady: “referring doctor”

Me: “Dr. so and so” 

Very kind lady: “so this is in reference to?”

Me: “breast cancer”

Very Kind lady: “Ok, so have you had chemo yet?”

Me: “I have had chemo, bilateral mastectomy and radiation”

Very Kind Lady: “Are you still menstruating?”

Me: “I had my ovaries removed two weeks ago.”

Very Kind lady: “hmmmmm…..well”

Me: “I know, I am 33 and I am a mess.”

Very Kind Lady, “Oh hon, you are not a mess you are alive and that is all that matters”

I sat at my desk during my lunch time and almost started to cry.  This woman was absolutely right, I am alive and that is all that matters.

I still try to live by this woman’s words of wisdom. 

Story #2 from October 21, 2012

A few months ago, my dear friend Adele asked me if I wanted to walk with her in NY City to help raise money for cancer research.   I wanted to but wasn’t sure how well I would do. Time passed by and Adele continued to send me emails and asking me to sign up with her.  Of course it was during the last week of pre-sign-ups and I signed up and got myself ready for the walk.  Totally didn’t read all of what I was signing up for.  I signed up for a five mile walk in Central Park.  What a beautiful day it turned out to be.  Not a snowflake in the sky.  There were tons and tons of people there.  Most of the people were not survivors but just ordinary people who were walking to raise money to help find a cure for cancer.  I was sort of a celebrity since I was a survivor. I went to the front of the line for the start of the walk. They usually have the survivors go to the front.  There was a father standing there with two girls who were about Ruthie and Elisheva’s age.  He said to them “girls, you know how I said we would see a survivor, she is a survivor.”  After hearing this, I turned to the girls and said, “Yes, I am a survivor and I have girls your age.  Thank you for walking.”  Then as we walked, there were people constantly saying “we have a survivor here” and then lots of cheering.  It was totally spirit lifting and motivating.  So let’s not forget where I was in 2012 and let’s not forget all of the steps it took to get to where I am today in 2026. 

Story #3 from October 6, 2012

Here is a little story….once upon a time, in 2012 I had to go to my bimonthly oncology appointment.  During these appointments I get blood drawn to make sure all my levels are ok. Let’s just say Shua was not happy watching this event. I didn’t turn him around so he couldn’t see me because then he would freak out.  Well, letting him watch was a mistake.  He went nuts. I got my flu shot during this appointment as well.  I learned from my mistake and made sure Shua was not watching this event. I parked his stroller in front of the fish tank. Shua is a smart boy and knew something was up.  He kept trying to turn around to see what I was doing. I made sure he faced forward by being rather silly and trying to distract him with the fish.  The place was pretty empty (which is good to see that there were not a lot of people being treated with chemo that day) so I felt ok being somewhat loud and ridiculous in order to keep Shua content.  There was a man in his 50’s getting chemo. I could see the man watching me and laughing a little.  I got the flu shot and Shua had no clue!  Success!  As I started to leave the room, the nurse grabbed the back of my hair and said “wow, it is coming in so nice, I love it!” At this point I was standing right next to the man getting chemo.  Shua started to say “hi” to him, so we stopped for a quick chat.  Shua started to say “bye-bye” to the man.  That was my cue to get moving before he freaks out again.  As I walk down the hallway I hear the man start talking to the nurse.  “Wow, she did all this with a baby?”  The nurse said “yes, and she has more children too.”  The man then said “wow, if she could do it, how can I complain?”  Sometimes seeing someone else’s life experiences helps put things in perspective.  As I continued out of the office, I had that superwoman feeling for a moment.  It was a great feeling!

Although there were many hard moments fighting cancer and raising three small children-and I mean MANY, I am thankful to have such amazing children who supported me through my journey and am so proud of how far they have come. 

It was definitely a journey from the start of diagnosis to this very day. I have walked and ran many miles and raised thousands of dollars for cancer research. From barely being able to walk a half mile to running a half marathon, each step taken with thankfulness and appreciation for beating cancer. At times, there were days that I would take one step forward and then by night time, I had taken four steps backwards.  I had to maintain my faith in God to be able to continue to move on a forward path. Every time I would go to my oncologist's office for my check up, I would walk the three flights of stairs. I easily could have taken the elevator. However, I needed myself to know that I was able to walk the stairs. At the top of each flight they had inspirational quotes on the walls.  One of the quotes was “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass….It is about learning to dance in the rain.” I saw this quote each time I made it to the third floor. It has always helped keep everything in perspective for me.  So the next time it storms, just remember to dance in the rain and remember you are a link in this Sharsheret.

Thank you for giving me this opportunity to share my journey and helping to support other women going through similar journeys. 

In early June, I had the opportunity to watch Shua win the JV indoor soccer championship.  It was awesome to watch his season.  I didn't get hit on the head once with the ball- I count that as a win! 

Let's not forget the best part of June-  I spent the day wearing a light up crown and blowing bubbles. There is just something about bubbles that makes everyone happy. 

Also in June, I finished all of my letters to my students. Yes, I am still doing this activity.  It takes a lot of time but I feel that it is worth the time.  I gave out more crocheted prizes this year than last.  

If you have made it to this point- thank you for reading!

A Year Without My Dad

Here are some of my thoughts throughout this past year. 

My dad’s health had been deteriorating for a while.  He was doing dialysis for sometime and it was literally sucking the life out of him.  I felt his pain every time I would pick him up from dialysis. It was an exhausting process but he kept at it, holding on for as long as his body would let him.  Even though he was in pain, I would try and make him smile while I wheeled him to the car or drove him home. Some days it worked and some days it didn’t.  When my brother told us that he took my dad to the hospital I knew that he most probably would not be coming out.

Shiva- 7 days.  Sitting Shiva.  We held Shiva over zoom because we wanted to make sure everyone stayed healthy. I learned a lot about my dad during this time.  It was neat to hear my brothers talk about their time with my dad. My dad never brought me to work at the store with him to do actual work like he did with my brothers.  Instead, I went to his classroom and set up bulletin boards or organized his materials.  This probably contributes to the reason why I am a teacher today. I never realized that my dad joined the air force directly after high school. He had a very low draft number and would have been sent to Vietnam had he not joined the air force. I read a letter that his mom sent him while he was at basic training where she told him that his draft card came in the mail. It was interesting to hear some of the stories about my dad when he was younger.  I also enjoyed looking at some of the pictures from when my dad was younger. Sitting Shiva was a tough experience but I definitely learned about my dad’s life. 

30 Days- Shloshim  During these 30 days I studied Mishnah in my dad’s memory. During these 30 days I really only read Mishnah.  Whenever I was not sleeping, eating, working, packing my mom’s house, I was studying and learning Mishnah. 

February- After Shloshim, I tried to get back into my normal routine.  I still found it very hard to watch any tv or movies.  I remember talking with Ruthie about this and she said “in time, don’t rush it, when you are ready, you will know.”  It was interesting that my teenager helped me through the process.  Truthfully my entire family helped me.  They were there to help out in any way I asked.  

I brought my dad’s jacket to my house.  It was the coat he wore whenever he left the house. It is gray and super soft and fluffy.  It is a  3XL size but towards the end of his life this coat that once fit him was swimming on him. I guess the coat has meaning to me.  I would see it when I would go to pick up my dad from dialysis.  It would be hanging on the lowest bar.  I would always smile because I knew my mom would have hung it there because it would be easy for her to reach.  I would take the coat and sit and wait for my dad to finish.  I would help put the coat on him and then put the hood up to keep him warm. Growing up my dad always wore short sleeves and was always hot.  I rarely remember him with long sleeves or wearing a heavy jacket. The past few years he would get really cold after dialysis. I would be sitting in my seat in a t-shirt sweating and he would be in his warm fluffy coat with the heat up to 75 blasting in his direction.  Just as my dad would do anything for me growing up, I would do anything for my dad.  If he needed the car to be 80 degrees- then the car would be 80 degrees.  If he needed me to avoid the manholes as I drove him home, then I would change lanes as much as I needed to so that the ride was a smooth ride home. 

March: I spent a lot of time this month helping my mom finish packing up her house.  It seems that my free time was spent doing something for the house.  It was exhausting but it kept me and my mind busy.  We found some great treasures and some fun memories while we packed the house. 

April: I don’t know if Pesach was my dad’s favorite holiday but I do know that it was an important holiday to him.  He always made sure that he had his family over to participate in the seders.  He always went above and beyond to make sure everyone had a great Pesach and that all of the kids got a chance to find the Afikomen. During covid it was hard to do the seders without my parents.  This year was doubly hard because my dad was no longer here. Anyone that has ever been to my house for a seder knows that there is one paragraph that my dad would read every year and get almost all of the names wrong.  I would look forward to this part of the seder.  It always brought a smile to my face. This year I dreaded this paragraph. 

One day on my way home from work,  I was listening to a podcast. They mentioned that the NBA logo with the man and the basketball was modeled after Jerry West. They went on to talk about how Jerry West played for the Lakers and lost six times to the Celtics.  I wanted so badly to call my dad and talk with him about what I had learned. I am sure he already knew this information but I wanted to have the conversation with him. It is times and days like this that I feel so lost and miss him the most. 

May- May was filled with lots of track meets and soccer games.  My dad would have been so proud to watch his granddaughters run a relay together.  He would have been so proud to see his grandson play in a level up in soccer and hold his own. I have to believe that he was there watching these events. The days are long but the years are short- that phrase keeps coming back to me. In the month of May two different events happened to me that made me know that my dad is always with me.  One day I was getting myself a drink at starbucks- and the guy at the register said that the register was down and the drink was for free. I was so confused and looked around and said “what is the catch?  Things like this don’t happen to me.”  Sure enough the drink was for free. He wouldn’t take cash so instead I gave him a nice tip.  I watched as the people behind me followed suit and gave nice tips as well. My dad would have been excited for the free drink but he would have also been the first person to give back to those making the drink.  The second event was finding a person’s debit card in the cvs.  My dad was always finding money wherever he went.  I am not sure, but when I saw the card on the floor, it made me think of my dad. Don’t worry, I brought the card to the right place. 

June- This was a tough month.  The first birthday without my dad.  The first father’s day without my dad.  I spent father’s day with my mom at the house. We did a final walk through taking down the mezuzahs and emptying whatever else was left. The mezuzah removal was not an easy task.  The last one I took down was the mezuzah that was on my bedroom door for most of my childhood.  It took me a while to get it off the wall.  As I struggled my mom said “your dad sure wanted you to be thinking of him today.”  Of course that led to  me tearing up.  

July- Harder than June for sure.  My dad’s birthday is in July. It was hard not going to Carvel and getting a specially made all vanilla cake for his birthday. It had become a tradition for many years.  My mother and brother and I did eat some vanilla ice cream and share some memories about my dad on his birthday. He was definitely with me in July. I found several coins on the ground. Anyone that knows my dad knows that he was always finding coins and then donated them to charity. He  always tried to find more money than the year before. 

August- It seems that it gets easier but harder at the same time.  This month, my daughter went abroad for the year.  This makes my home a little emptier. Ruthie was such a support for me when my dad was getting sick and after he passed.  

I find that not listening to music for a year has left me with a lot of thinking time.  Every time I get into the car to go somewhere I am reminded of my dad because I don’t turn on the radio right away. Sometimes I would listen to podcasts but there were many road trips that were just silent.  The silence leads me to missing my dad. I found myself  missing the phone calls after dialysis where he would call to check in on me and my children. Yes you read that right, he would always call me. His voice was so hoarse from the treatment but he still wanted to check in with me. I never wanted to keep him long because I knew how exhausted he was.  The sicker he got the more those phone calls meant to me. Of course I kept some of his voicemail messages and every now and then I find myself listening to them. Hearing his voice helps but makes it harder at the same time. I spent some time cleaning up my closet. One of the last activities that my dad did with some of his kids and grandkids was glassblowing.  My brother’s family had the idea to go and my dad took us there.  I made a purple heart paperweight. I had kept it in the bag for a very long time. I am not entirely sure why.  Part of me knew that looking at it would remind me of my dad.  But then again, I have his jacket and army shirt hanging in my closet and I look at that several times a day.  So in August, I took the purple heart out of the paper bag and put it on one of my shelves.  It has brought some tears to my eyes but it also brought smiles to my face.  My dad always wanted to make sure everyone was having a great time.  

September-  A new school year. I know that the secular world starts their year in January.  My year starts in September. It is a new year and a fresh start.  September is also my parent’s anniversary and my mom’s birthday. I knew that this September was going to be a hard one. In typical Rachel fashion I made dinner plans with my mom on the anniversary date. I went to the store and got her some flowers and a carvel cake for her birthday.  While I was picking up the cake I saw a beautiful pot of fall flowers.  I picked it up.  My hands are full and I am thinking “I should have just taken a cart.”  I exit the store after paying for the cake and the pot of flowers and low and behold there is a quarter sitting on the ground.  I knew right away that it was a sign and that my dad was with me as I picked up the flowers and the cake.  Of course my hands were full so I kicked the quarter through the parking lot to my car and then picked it up.  Those that knew my dad knew that he would frequent the shoprite looking for quarters from carts that people didn’t want to return.  He would take those quarters and donate them to charity, his scholarship fund.  There were many times that I went to the store with my dad and drove him around looking for the carts or he made me run after a lone cart to see if the quarter was in there.  Soccer season starts in September. My dad always wanted to watch his grandchildren play sports.  I think about my dad a lot while I watch my son run up and down the field.  He would have been so proud to watch him score a goal during the first game of the season.

October-  During this month we celebrated several Jewish Holidays. The “firsts” without my dad are always so hard.  It was bittersweet to celebrate these holidays. It was nice to be around my family and to have my mom with us but there was an obvious empty space. I found it hard to be truly happy.  

November- This is the month that conferences take place at my school. In years past, I would crash at my parents house in between school and my conferences.  It was always nice to spend time with them and it saved me time driving back and forth to school.  This year, I spent time with my mom.  I sat on her couch, graded papers, and just talked.  November is also  the month of Thanksgiving-  It is one of my favorite holidays. I love that families get together and it is a time to be thankful and grateful. I am always so grateful for everything that I have been given as well as my continued good health.  This Thanksgiving was definitely different than years past.  I had two of my nieces stay with us.  Their grandmother, who is from Israel/California also came to spend the day with us.  My mom came for the holiday weekend.  My eldest daughter was not there because she is spending the year abroad.  Usually I run the Ashenfelter race on Thanksgiving day. I haven’t run it for a few years and just couldn’t motivate myself to do it this year.  Overall, Thanksgiving day was so very different from years past with so many different variables. The differences were good but my dad was noticeably missing.  Last year at this time, he worked so very hard to get home from Kessler to spend Thanksgiving at his house surrounded by his family.  At one point this year, one of my nieces said “we didn’t do this last  year.”  I needed to take a moment and leave the room because I started to cry.  Nope, we didn’t do this last year because we were in a different place with different people. At one point we pulled out all of my scrapbooking materials and the kids (minus Shua) and myself made place cards.  My nieces usually make place cards for their family on Thanksgiving. It was nice to have a new tradition and a way to distract me from the obvious missing person. 

December- December 2nd is my day to celebrate being cancer free. There is a needlepoint that my dad made that hangs on the living room wall. I walk by this needlepoint any time I am in the room and it sits right across from the chair that I sit and grade papers or read my book.  He wrote the phrase “Never give up.” My dad was one of my strongest supporters when I was sick.  He was always looking out for me and trying to help in any way he could when I was recovering.  Just writing about it now, I remember the time he took me to my chemo treatments and I introduced him to FRIENDS and had him watch one of my favorite episodes.  I was hysterically laughing and he just kept looking at me like I was crazy.  He didn’t seem to find it too funny.   This time last year, my dad started to decline.  We were in full swing of packing up the house because my parents were in the process of moving.  My dad would say comments to me such as, “Rachel, my time is coming to an end,” or “Rachel, my body is failing me.”  It was so hard to hear these comments. I would always respond with “don’t say that, you are a fighter,  just keep at it, one day at a time.”   I know that he was hurting and was in so much pain towards the end.  As I write this almost a year later, I feel bad for telling him to keep fighting knowing that he was in so much pain. I tried to stop by the house on my way home from school to see him on the days that he was not at dialysis and I offered to do the pick up on the dialysis days.  I guess deep inside, I knew that the time was limited and I wanted to spend as much time as possible with my dad. 

In the middle of December, my extended family lost another family member. This month was a very hard month for me.

January 9th- Here we are a year later. Today was a tough day for me. It was an emotional day. I thought about my dad first thing this morning when I woke up. I thought about my dad when I got to school.  I thought about my dad when my mom texted me. I thought about my dad when my friend texted acknowledging that today was going to be hard. I went onto facebook and looked at the last set of pictures he was tagged in. It was a teary day. I miss hearing my dad say “where is my buddy?” when he called me.  I miss hearing his voice. I miss having him ask me to pick something up at the store for him. I miss his silly dad jokes that he loved but were really corny jokes. 

I looked for my sign from my dad all day long.  When I was ready to pack up and head home, I noticed a sticker on my desk.  I have been giving out these stickers to my students as prizes or rewards. This sticker was left out of the bucket and was just sitting on my desk. I love that it is a map theme.  How does it connect to my dad?  My dad loved to take pictures of his family at every event.  As a child I would sometimes get annoyed that we had to hold still and be in so many different pictures.  Now I am so thankful that my parents took all of those pictures. I love looking at them to see the people and the places we visited. I have turned into my dad, requesting my children to pose for a picture. 

I might not talk with my dad daily or see him on my way home from work anymore, but he is definitely in my heart and with me every day.  He is with me when I play games with my kids.  He is with me when I am doing an arts and crafts project.  He is with me each day I teach my students.  It has been a long hard year and I miss my dad greatly.  

 

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