2024 Year In Review

Looking Back On 2024

 

“Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations” 

 

I am not sure who originally said that quote, but it speaks to me when I think about this past year.

For me, 2024 was, for the most part, a “difficult road”.  It was a year of health battles, a year of loss and a year of change.  While all of that made a huge impact on our year, 2024 also brought new achievements, some fun adventures to places I had never been, some walks (and runs!) down memory lane, and hope for what 2025 will bring.

January

As always, the new year was welcomed in with an outdoor adventure.  This year, it was a hike through Indian Painted Rocks, in Spokane, Washington.

This would be my very first encounter with a moose!

While in Spokane, Community Cancer Fund invited me to be a guest of honor at the Gonzaga basketball game.  The message that night, I AM., acknowledges that everyone plays a part in the fight against cancer, whether you are a survivor, a fighter (such as myself), a care provider, or a loved one or friend of someone with cancer.

The honor was truly all mine that night.

We Let the Good Times Roll as the saying goes, in New Orleans!

NOLA had been a bucket list trip for many years, and it did not disappoint!

A week of food, sightseeing, touring and shopping, had us wanting to stay longer!  We missed actual Mardi Gras (intentionally), but we did arrive during Carnival Week.

Everywhere we went, they were decorating and gearing up for Mardi Gras.

The end of January had us on a cross country drive from Idaho to New Jersey

– in some of the worst driving conditions.

To make it worse,

we both came down with a pretty good case of Covid on the drive.

February

February had us right in the heart of the Pine Barrens in New Jersey.  We both grew up here, in fact my entire life was here until I turned 18.  This was a walk down memory lane, but I will save that for a future post.

A day trip into Manhattan was one of the highlights in February.  The train from Long Branch, NJ goes right into Penn Station.

From there, we took my first subway ride and rode it into Grand Central Station.

I was in awe at how beautiful Grand Central is!

We spent the day visiting the Empire State Building,

Chelsea Market,

the Starbucks Roastery and just walking the streets of Manhattan.  By the time we left, I had a new found excitement for what I hoped would be a return trip to New York – in November!

By mid February, I was sick again.  A trip to the ER would end in a diagnosis of Bronchitis.  This would have me laid up for over two weeks.  During this time I was able to do something I had been looking forward to for over a year…I signed up for, and received an entry into the 2024 New York City Marathon!

I cannot tell you how excited this made me feel!  I would be running my first marathon, in New York!  I would be running on a charity bib through Team In Training.  A charity that is personal to me, as they raise money to help find a cure for blood cancers.

My fundraising started immediately.

March

In March we visited Liberty State Park.

I did a couple of training runs here.  We were able to see Ellis Island and

the Statue of Liberty (from the back), but we would have to return if we were to visit either of them (as it turned out, we would not get the chance this year).

We did however visit the old train depot

as well as the New Jersey 9/11 Memorial (look for future posts on both of these).

I had an idea that I wanted to do my long training runs at either a different State Park or a different boardwalk while we were in New Jersey.  So, in March we also visited Double Trouble State Park, and after my run, we walked through the park and visited the old buildings.

This was a walk down memory lane for both of us, as we both visited here as children.

April

April in New Jersey was an extremely rainy month.

With the rain came the mushrooms, and we spent any time we could stomping through the swampy woods looking to see what mushrooms we could find.

We visited Allaire Sate Park for some of my training runs,

but our visits here were limited to running and bike riding.

We visited Historic Smithville and we spent the day wandering through all of the little shops and eateries.

 

It had changed quite a bit from what I had remembered, but it was still a fun day, and the idea of capturing the quaintness of the old historic town was still the same.

April also brought with it a total solar eclipse!  I drove out to the lake, found a perfect spot on the beach, and for the first time, witnessed my first total eclipse!

May

By May, weather was starting to warm up enough that I was able to do some running on the boardwalk in Seaside Heights.

I was really focusing on my training and nutrition, and I was feeling really positive about the marathon.

By mid May, I started having more health issues, and at the end of the month we ended up having to drive out to Idaho for a specialist.  I would spend the following month in Idaho and Chuck would fly back to New Jersey to prepare the RV for storage,

June

June brought its ups and downs.  In and amongst a lot of doctor appointments, I still managed too get some good training days in.

I got to throw a really fun baby shower for my soon to be adorable grandson (he would be the first boy in a family of all girls!).

A lot of planning and love went into this shower, and we all had the best time!  Apparently they say if you want a party planned, just give me the theme and I will absolutely get carried away with it!

By late June however, my mothers partner of almost 40 years was placed on home hospice.  A little over a week later, he passed away.  His passing would change the trajectory of the remainder of our year.  It would also be the first of several heartbreaks we would endure.

July

By the Fourth of July, I was back on the road, heading east again.  The RV was now in storage in New Jersey.  I would drive to New Jersey, and then we would both travel south to Tennessee, where my mother lives.

We had arrived in Tennessee with plans and ideas of splitting our time between my mother here, and Chucks parents in New Jersey.

We spent the month doing some work around her cabin, while we stayed at a farmhouse that was so kindly lent to us by the neighbors on the adjoining farm.

By the end of the month, we began to realize that we were probably looking at more than just “visits”.

Still, we headed back up north to New Jersey as originally planned, taking in the Blue Ridge Parkway along the way.

It was absolutely breathtaking and well worth the hours it added to our drive!

August

We didn’t spend as much time in New Jersey as we had planned.  Before a quick turn around to head back down to Tennessee, we managed to get in something I had been wanting to do since we originally showed up in New Jersey – we spent an afternoon and evening at the boardwalk!

By now, the boardwalk was in full swing- games, rides, shops and food stands were all open!  For that evening, we were teenagers again reliving some of the fun of our youth!

By mid August we were back at the farmhouse in Tennessee.  It was decided that we would begin clearing land on my mothers property to build a full hook up RV site.  This would become a major project that would last into the Fall.

In the middle of it all, my grandson made his introduction to the world!  What a great day!

September

We spent September continuing to work on the RV site.

I ran when I could – the Greenway here offers miles and miles of beautiful running trails.

I felt my training starting to drop off though, with all of the work we were doing on the property.  I began to stress about it.

The hurricanes made their way up the eastern seaboard, and Tennessee saw its fair share of flooding!  Even the creek that runs through our property flooded the lowland pretty bad!

Thank goodness we were building the RV site up high – it remained dry!

September would bring another heartbreak – the unexpected passing of my father.

October

By the time October rolled around, we said goodbye to the farmhouse that had become our temporary home throughout the summer into the fall.  We drove back up to New Jersey to retrieve our RV from storage.

We brought the RV down to Tennessee.

Our hard work and dedication to building this RV site, paid off.

As happy as we were to have the site completed, October brought a final blow to our hearts, when Chucks mother passed away.

The voids that are left in our hearts from our loved ones who passed away this year, run deep and are felt by each and every one of us.

November

The New York City Marathon was here!  I had trained (though not as well as I had planned), raised over $3000.00 for a charity I fully support (Leukemia Lymphoma Society), and I had been anticipating this day all year long!

We arrived in New York City and headed to the Expo, where I picked up my bib.

The following day, as I waited in the Start Village, I couldn’t believe I was here!  I would be running the New York City Marathon with a very dear friend that had been my running partner over a year prior.

This marathon showed me just how strong I could be,

as we crossed the Finish line together after running 26.2 miles nonstop!

I am incredibly grateful to all who supported me in any way, and it was a weekend I will never forget!

Stay tuned for the next event – I guess I love a challenge!

December

One last trip for the year back to Idaho.  It would be a Christmas different from years past.  I would spend 2 weeks in Idaho prior to Christmas, and then fly back to Tennessee.

We managed to still get in some of our Christmas traditions and we enjoyed our time.

I (sadly) wrapped up my final doctor appointments with my care team, as my care has now been transferred out east.  I hope I have the same connection with these doctors, that I had with my doctors out west.   On the 20th I returned to Tennessee.

It would be a Smokey Mountain Christmas this year.

 

2024 had many moments that made us smile and made our hearts feel full.  It also had many challenges.  Sometimes it felt as though we couldn’t get a break.  But, as someone said,

“Challenges are what make life interesting. 

Overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.”

Here’s to a happier, healthier and most meaningful New Year!