Adieu 2024

The sweetest days I get to enjoy are ones with beloved family and friends and these past three weeks have been brimming over with those moments! 

To start, in Florida my granddaughter and I built a gingerbread house in which she enjoyed fist fulls of frosting more than the construction of the house! We also oooo’d and ahhhhh’d at all the wild primates swinging around in the Zoo! Observing them from a little river cruise boat created a unique experience and one that she squealed with such joy to see them. 

Then there was the Walk A Mile For Her Smile event for my dear friends, the Owen Family, as they honored their daughter Erica at the 10 year anniversary of her passing with a silent auction fund raiser, mile long walk around North Park and John got to be Santa yet again for the kids.  Arriving on a Harley with his elf buddy, Jeff P was as much fun for John as it was for the children! In fact, this year he has volunteered as Santa for several events. One of them I even opted to don a Mrs. Claus suit!!

 

We had the opportunity to go to St. Louis and while there we spent a few nights with my friend and former Sister-in-law, Debbie and her hubby, Randy. She and I hiked, laughed and shared the goodness of God in our lives!! I might have beat them all in a hilarious game of Mexican Train Dominos too!! So grateful for our continued friendship after all these decades! She is such a gifted artist and she’s very modest about her talent but I’d love to highlight it here. 

 

We also saw friends from the stair building association John’s affiliated with. Robin and Chas treated us to a St. Louis Blues hockey game and dinner following another Santa event John had. It’s truly amazing how many genuine friendships have come from his professional trade association!

GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY!! John and I hit 12 years on 12/12/24 and I’m speechless at the goodness of God toward me. It was only 2.5 years ago when I received the devastating news of a stage 4 metastatic breast cancer! A recurrence with only a 3-5 year prognosis. One of my goals in 2022 was to hit my 10 year anniversary and now look at us!!! Twelve years and going stronger every day! We went back to Hocking Hills State Park where we celebrated our honeymoon!

En Route to Christmas at my parents in Rockford, IL we popped in at dear cousins, Todd and Pam Parmenter’s for an overnight visit. I just love it that because of our Key family reunions as kids Todd, Pam and I remain so close to this day. Todd and I share the same great grandparents who left England with 6 of their eventual 15 children, crossing the Atlantic Ocean with hopes of a better life in America! They would be so blessed to know that we maintain family ties with such sweet fondness and intentionality. I also let Todd severely beat me in Mexican Train dominos because he hates to lose!! 😂 

Then on to Rockford, IL and not only did I get in 1 workout and 3 hikes with family, but I attended my niece’s Golden birthday on December 23rd, saw Christmas light displays, played the White Elephant game, and cooked a healthy meal for Christmas with my sister, Melissa! Getting another year with my parents and sisters as we all age gracefully is our gift and being with so many family members brought lots of laughter and no drama…another reason to celebrate besides the truest reason that I am grateful for this year is to remember the birth of the world’s Messiah!

Finally, I conclude my last blog of 2024 with a final photo and video after getting yet another infusion to treat my stage 4 NED (No Evidence of Disease) breast cancer! I’m looking forward to 2025 with another successful 17 infusions in my future and anticipating the birth of another grandchild soon! It’s my hope that our WonderVan will be completed and John and I will be living full time in it! It is my greatest wish and God’s will that ALL will come to Him, praising His holy name and feeling grateful for another year to share in His goodness!

Lots of Thankfulness

These beautiful faces are my dearest friend’s kiddos that we get the privilege of doing life with!! LillyMae and Zoey joined me in hand painting our Christmas cards and Ever got to go on a wintery hike with me, then we followed up with one of our favorite traditions, making what I call “Baked Children”, aka gingerbread men!!

I treasure every first snowfall as it’s one of my favorite days of the year even if it’s only a light dusting! This is at my special bench in Patricia Allyn Park where others have seen fit to relish in the sanctity of it by adding a stick cross and wind chime. I welcome it and am grateful others have discovered this little slice of heaven on earth in Ohio. 

Thanksgiving this year we drove to Rockford, IL again as tradition has it and although my Dad was suffering in physical pain, I was blessed that he joined us for dinner as my siblings and other family members came together for another holiday with loved ones. Also very glad my sissy, Melissa, eats like me and we had a harvest green and grain bowl as our Thanksgiving meal sans Turkey, buttery potatoes and sugary yams!!! 

Lys took me on a couple frigid early morning hikes in northern Illinois and fed me WFPB breakfast which I GREATLY appreciated! However, I will share and confess that I did gleefully indulge in a small piece of cherry pistachio panettone (that beautiful holiday bread I accidentally spent $95!!!!!! on from Dan-the-baker in Columbus, OH)!

While the weekend could have included my Boylan High School 40th class reunion, I opted instead to spend every moment with those with whom I hold dearest and only get to see a couple times a year… my family…

and one of my favorite humans on earth…WT! (You know who you are 😉). I was able to sip fresh herbal tea grown lovingly in her organic garden and I added a non-WFPB splash of her perfectly harvested fresh goat milk, which I’ve have dubbed Liquid Gold. Oh, to just sit in the peaceful serenity of her home, reminiscing, dreaming, learning and laughing: it is like a healing balm to an old friend’s soul! 

I was informed that one of my cousins, Judy Parmenter, was really getting quite frail and I was thrilled that John and I got to stop by and visit with her. She’s 93!! Our families familiarity and love for each other goes way back! I’m so grateful the Key clan had family reunions with the OG 15 siblings and their offspring as I was growing up! Judy’s grandparents are my great grandparents!! Does that make her my first cousin once removed? Or second cousin?? That would be something my sister Karen could answer. I spent many a Sunday dinner at Judy’s table while in college. She and her family provided a rich and spiritual home during my early 20s and I will forever be grateful for the deposits of security and family love I received from them. Family is a gift from God and Judy has always held a very special place in my heart. 

The WonderVan progress is coming along slowly but surely.  This week I applied a final finish clear coat on our veneer panels for the closet and bathroom walls. John’s engineering the shower pan and it hurts my brain to think of all the puzzle pieces he’s putting together to fabricate this all from scratch.

Tasks completed this week.. I got out the few Christmas postcards I painted this year. Here’s a sampling of a few of them. What a joy to pick up my water color paints again. The Bible verse from Isaiah 7:14 was the theme of the cards this year. 

Lastly, it’s been 3 weeks since my last infusion at The James and here I was getting my usual Herceptin and Perjeta. This day also started the first of 6 iron infusions for increasing my iron. Dr Johnson hopes that will address my frequent Charlie horses since my electrolytes are always normal. 

November 2024

Typically I have been fastidious about journaling on the day I have my infusion to report all I’ve done in the previous weeks, however, I’m not feeling like a lot has happened to me that’s so blog worthy so I have dragged my feet this time. Really, I don’t see much different in my life than in most others. In fact, mine is somewhat regular and mundane at the moment so I hesitate to even post this. But for sake of consistency, I will anyway. 

A few days ago I had my routine 3 week infusion of HP (as the oncology nurses call it). It stands for the drugs I’m given, Herceptin & Perjeta. While there I was informed that my iron is too low which may be the cause of my frequent charlie horses. Therefore, my medical oncologist, Dr. Kai Johnson, is having me take 6 treatments of IV iron at my next 6 HP treatments. He says it’ll take an additional 2 hours and I may have allergic reactions so I’ll be on Benadryl and have steroids ready and waiting if needed.  Since my electrolytes always read perfectly, this is his next solution. He also indicated that many of his long term HP patients need to get the iron infusions. 

John and I flew to Florida for my granddaughter’s birthday last week which was lovely but way too short of a visit. Seeing her and hearing her incessantly call out my name, “GRANITA!”, with her arms stretched up for me to hold her literally lights up my life & makes me feel so wanted! I love it! Thank YOU God for the gift of time! We went to Great Wolf Lodge to celebrate making a birthday bash easier to pull off than all that goes into a party at my daughter’s home right now. 

I also got to finally see my son, Jonathan, after almost 3.5 months and got to hear all about his travels. What a blessing he has had the opportunity to travel to China and Japan thanks to my Chinese son Alex! I’m so grateful for their brotherly love and concern for each other!

Physically, I’ve only hiked a little here and there to keep my bones moving. Recently I found out that because I was diagnosed 2 years ago as terminal, and I’m still alive, our Government requires that I go on Medicare. One benefit is that I now have a free membership to Silver Sneakers (that just sounds old!!) which offers free membership to most YMCAs, Anytime Fitness and Planet Fitness!! If only I liked going to the gym. I’m seeing it as my opportunity to have a free, long, hot shower when we are eventually living in the Wondervan!! As it stands now, our water tank in the van will only allow for 4 minute showers!

Spiritually, I want to share something that I don’t typically do and that is a clip from my church where for 20 minutes my pastor, Roger, shared this message that I really liked. No need to watch the whole thing. If you want to go from approximately time 17:30 to 37:30 minutes you can listen. Roger, like me has recently battled cancer and is being given more time to live on earth thanks to God! His teachings seem to be much more impactful to me as I listen. I think we both are keenly aware of the treasure and responsibility we have to make our little lives matter for the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. Cancer can be a gift because with it life becomes so much more palpably fragile and living on purpose to share about the love of God through Jesus’ sacrifice has emboldened me to become unashamedly transparent in my purpose. Also, I’m watching an Amazon Prime video docuseries Jonathan and Jesus where actor Jonathan Roumie shares about his journey playing Jesus. He’s an inspiration and I’m grateful how God is using him to bring Christins together in unity around Jesus alone! I’ve been reading in Scripture most mornings and staying close to God as His Word soaks in and reminds me of His faithfulness. In fact, today I finished reading in the book of Joshua. Here are a few of my favorite verses from there. 

“Make sure you obey every command and instruction Moses, Yahweh’s servant, gave you. Love Yahweh! He is your God, so walk in his ways and obey his commands! Cling to him and serve him diligently with all your heart and with all your soul!”

‭‭Joshua‬ ‭22‬:‭5‬ ‭TPT‬‬

“Now therefore, worship Yahweh with holy awe and serve him in authentic love and loyalty. Remove from your hearts every false god to whom your fathers bowed down beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt and serve Yahweh. If it seems wrong in your eyes to serve Yahweh, then make your decision today which gods you will worship—the gods which your ancestors worshiped in Mesopotamia or the gods which the Amorites worship in the land where you are now living—but I and my family, we will give our lives to worship and serve Yahweh!”

‭‭Joshua‬ ‭24‬:‭14‬-‭15‬ ‭TPT‬‬

Back Home Normalcy

Since returning from almost 2 months in Canada and Michigan, I admit that it is nice to be back home. Home to my warm soft bed and a washing machine, home to all the conveniences of a house, and home to all my friends nearby.

The past few weeks I’ve been hiking a little more on the Buckeye Trail with my friend Liz. On one of our jaunts while hiking next to Caesar Creek we had the rare opportunity of seeing a buck in full rut chasing down a doe. I missed the video of her but 10 seconds after she crossed the path in front of us, this big boy came shamelessly crashing through the woods in hot pursuit. What an amazing thing to see! We considered how God is like this with us…pursuing us to show His love and to give us life! Maybe a stretch but it’s always my goal to find the lesson in everything!

Loving the cool mornings to get out and be able to hike and breathe fresh air into my lungs. Of course Brandon Lake’s song, Gratitude, came to mind as I inhaled going up the inclines and was washed over with a sense of so much thankfulness that I can do this!! Out of 1444 miles we have almost 14 miles under our belt now! I love it that Liz and I pick up trash along the way to beautify the BT for others! Honestly I’ve noticed more and more stiffness in my muscles in general and I’m not exactly sure why but hoping it’s just from the increased activity and not from some reason related to the drugs I’m on for cancer treatments. It’s been my experience that when something physical acts up that I can’t specifically explain, my brain likes to tempt me into thinking it’s something cancer related! Then I need to give it to God and remember these words from this song. In fact, if you read my blog from when I recently spent a month in the Canadian wilderness, you’ll remember that God literally calmed the waves and wind for me! He does miracles like this to remind me that His eyes indeed are on me through it all!

While John works on the WonderVan, I’m finding time for little projects like cutting firewood, sanding and staining a wooden bench, making Christmas gifts from Petoskey stones I got in Michigan, mountain biking our local trails, reading a good book trilogy called Out of Egypt by Connilyn Cossette and hiking with other friends. This is a photo special lady who shares a medical journey similar to mine where we can both say how grateful we are to God for giving us more time. I got to share my bench with her and we sat and worshipped together singing Gratitude!

I’m headed out tomorrow to visit my kids in Florida! Jonathan has been in Asia for the past 2 months and I can’t wait to give the guy a mama bear hug! My granddaughter turns 2 and this Granita will go celebrate being given the miracle gift of time with her which was one of my goals over 900 days ago!! So yes, I’m ringing my Gratitude Bell to thank God for all these precious sacred gifts that I do not take for granted!!

October in Michigan

September in Quetico Provençal Park was wild, remote, adventurous and restorative. That’s behind me and now on to October! No question how grateful I am for the increase in physical strength I now have after a month of portaging and paddling!

To begin, after September in Quetico I popped back to Ohio for a easy infusion for my cancer treatment at The James, picked up some delicious, sesame bread from Dan the Baker, then headed to Florida where I seized and savored every second with some family. 

 

October was spent mostly in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for mountain biking, leaf peeping and exploring!! We primarily dispersed camped in John’s old work van since the WonderVan isn’t ready yet. We splurged on a hotel for a couple nights in Marquette just to enjoy a hot shower and real bed!

However, our mode of camping this month meant slinging John’s hammock diagonally inside his work van while I squeezed my sleeping bag and blow up camp pad underneath him to sleep with packing blankets above and below me on the van floor to keep the overnight 36-50° chill at a minimum. Compared to tent camping in the wilderness, this was luxurious mostly because I had my electric Dometic refrigerator and could have fresh, crunchy, organic veggies daily! (Something I really missed while in the Canadian wilderness).

The fall colors were more than spectacular in the UP, however, it was quite overcast during the height of color there in the second week of October up near Munising. It didn’t stop me from saying WOW a million times though. I cannot recall seeing so many vibrant, neon, illuminated colors all at one time with so many maple trees!! We hunted down some big waterfalls like Tequamenon Falls, but as much as I relish taking in the sights and sounds of tumbling water over granite boulders, that one was a bit too touristy.

While still in Munising, MI we took a popular sunset Pictured Rock boat cruise and the waves were SO massive & choppy that the vessel turned around 3/4 of the way down the coast to prevent us from capsizing! This video clip gives a tiny impression of what was physically felt but our bodies were dipping and diving in the worst moments! I was so grateful they turned around early!

This is an old lighthouse on Grand Island where the lighthouse keeper, his wife and their 12 children back in the early 1900s resided.

Lake Superior is often a rugged, windy and a cold bluster but this particular morning we woke up in the Grand Island ferry parking lot and took in this peaceful sunrise.

 

Mountain biking on some favorite UP trails in the Munising area were Grand Island, Bruno’s Run and Valley Spur. Although I was the pace keeping biker, the rollers, berms, rocks and roots often kept me winded. They were exhausting, yet satisfying at the end of the day! Truly I was in awe that my once-cancer filled lungs could push through the 22 mile, 13 mile and 12 mile trails in 4 days! I was huffing and puffing, but I did it! All praise to my Healer and Creator!

Dispersed camping vs utilizing official campgrounds means finding allowable forest roads that lead to nowhere and parking the van in order to clandestinely camp without paying a dime. Thankfully our Solo Stove allowed us to have a cozy campfires and burn dead branches down to wood cooking coals. When toasters aren’t readily available, John mastered creative ways to cook my breakfast toast. 

Frost was on the ground this particular morning and the cold snap infused fog over the lakes making for a mystical silence. 

The paintbrush God uses for our enjoyment in Autumn never ceases to amaze me. I realized that my shacket gifted to me from my kids last Christmas blended in perfectly with this young pink, red and salmon colored maple! 

Marquette, MI surprised us with a lovely vibe and plethora of activities from welcoming parks, mountain vistas like on Sugarloaf and Hogback, roiling Lake Superior waves on sandy beaches, hidden waterfalls and a Co-op grocery store with organic options!! So far Marquette is my favorite town we’ve visited in Michigan!

I did love having a real cuppa joe from Dancing Crane coffee shop in Brimley, MI and got to chat with the owner’s daughter who was a spunky one!!

Once we started south to the lower part of Michigan we joined a bunch of old fogies on a Soo Locks boat tour which was educational and historically interesting but I didn’t buy a t-shirt saying I was there!

Eventually we paid the toll across the Mackinac Bridge into lower Michigan, our first stop was the often touristy yet charming Mackinac Island where we rode around the island twice, shopped a little and avoided the fudge!! Another 20 miles of riding!!

Continuing toward the northwest coast of Michigan we were wandering gypsies going wherever the gold and crimson colors and mountain bike trails led us. We parked our van at Harvest Host sites including vineyards and organic farms or used the iOverlander app to pick out dispersed camping sites. We took tours of lighthouses, learned about shipwreck history in the Great Lakes and rode more sha-mazing trails near Petoskey, MI. The Offield Family Reserve Trail surprised us with trail gnomes tucked away in the trunk of an old tree!

I was especially grateful that the weather cleared to crystal blue during the day and temps warmed up enough so that we could sit out at night and gawk at that super moon, plus I could step outside in the middle of the night to pee and not freeze! The colors were again at peak as we drove a little down the coast around this hilly and beautiful part of the state. The lavender sky greeted us as that moon crested over the horizon! Wow again at God’s creative genius! 

As October is coming to a close and we are heading back home in a few days I woke up Sunday the 20th. At this point of our trip I admit I’m getting ready to be home mostly because I’m tired of crawling in the van to sleep on the cold floor in a tight little space with the bottom of John’s hammock 1” from me when I roll over underneath him! The biggest reason is because after so many days of mountain biking, I either am not hydrated enough or didn’t stretch out enough! But that night I woke up out of a dead sleep at least 5-6 times with paralyzing charlie horses in my legs or feet! Anyone whose had them knows how fast I wanted to yelp, jump up and stretch it out to relieve the lightening rod spasm overtaking my legs with groans and a few curse words, but my zipper was on the wrong side, zipped up to my nose and had me cocooned inside with John’s hammock pressing over me preventing me from doing it faster than the muscle spasm. I needed a hotel for the next night before making our way south toward home. Thankfully, we found one reasonably priced, clean, newly renovated and it was Heavenly to sleep like a normal person again at least for one night!

While away on our travels I discovered that a very special friend of mine did something that honored and touched my heart deeply. This kindred relationship, orchestrated ONLY by God, is with a woman named Judy. Over the past couple years we have grown in our own very unique Christ-centered friendship where Jesus is the foundation and authenticity, grace, and growth is the fruit we share. She now lives in France and there was a 5k race in her village recently that she ran in my honor as a breast cancer survivor. May all who read this know that relationship miracles really do happen because of Jesus alone and it’s my prayer that His gift of forgiveness to us will transfer to those all around us, and the spirit enemy of bitterness and hatred will be defeated! Love is a choice, Mon Amie, and I choose it in you, Judy! Thank you for honoring me all the way from across the ocean!

Traverse City area was just ok but thankfully the vineyards and organic farm-to-table restaurants met our desire for good food and drink. Although I no longer drink alcohol, admittedly I took a teeny sip of John’s wine tasting flights. We also took in Sleeping Bear Dunes but it was just a big hill of sand so…meh. 

We continued soaking up the natural beauty of flowers and the last days of colorful maple trees. Our last night of camping in the woods we were rewarded with over an hour of listening to the call of several barred owls. Our last day of sight seeing was hiking the old growth forest at Hartwick State Park near Grayling, MI where the pines towered into the sky and the 350-400 year old evergreens quietly stood among the blowing yellow maple leaves saying goodnight to another year and the end of our long journey away from home!

Now it’s time to go home. Hello Ohio. Nice to see you again. 

Our one word that describes the beauty in all we’ve tasted, seen, heard and experienced for the past 53 days is the only one that begins to summarize it all and that’s this…