The Sisterhood of the Fancy Britches....

For the past 10 years, or so, I have been an Ebay seller

to supplement our family income.

It's not a ton of money, but its been enough to be our "slush

fund" or "vacation fund" to use over the years.

To learn how to be a "STELLAR SELLER" on Ebay all those

years ago I joined an online "moms group" to meet up with 

a bunch of women who could teach me all the tricks of the

trade.

The Sisterhood of the Fancy Britches.

It worked.

I made "power seller" and did pretty darn good.

In the interim, I also "chatted with" and made a new group

of online friends.

Some of whom I've met in real life over the years.

Some of whom I've talked to on the phone.

All of whom I've called friends.

They are a great group of ladies.

We have watched each others kids grow up, been through hard

times, struggles, divorces, and the ups and downs of life.

Even though I have not met most of them in my real life,

they are women I consider friends.

Unknown to me, at the time of my husbands diagnosis, online

emails and messages began to fly.

Fundraisers were set up, people donated of their time, gifts

and money to help my family.

When the day arrived that I was to be "let into the loop"--they 

texted me and told me to get online.

They had something to tell me.

What they told me (once again) made me cry.

They had earned some money for my family to take a trip.

It was ONLY to be used for a trip.

Explicit instructions were given NOT to use it for medical

bills or anything else.

They wanted my family to go away, and take a zillion pictures,

and make a memory that we could all cherish forever.

I checked.  

I doubled checked.

I triple checked.

Really?  Should we use the money, their hard earned money,

for my family to have a good time.

It just seemed so wrong.

Feeling great guilt at using someone else's money for our pleasure.

They assured me that it was in THIS spirit, the spirit of love, and fun, and memory making, that they had raised the money and to please please please use it for that.

I was once again humbled at the kindness and generosity and

goodness of the world.

Cancer seems to touch lives in ways that I never imagined.

While all this was happening, another friend (who wishes to 

remain anonymous--you know who you are!) called to say they

had something to contribute to our family, to help us get

away.

They had some spare frequent flier miles that they were

gifting to our family for a trip.

The money along with the miles dropped us (again and again)

to our knees in gratitude.

Our "vacation fund" for the year, this year, had been used

up paying co-pays and meeting deductibles for Kyle's cancer.

So armed with a free place to stay, airline miles and money--

Kyle requested a trip to one of his favorite places on earth.

New York City.

Kyle and I have friends that live in The Big Apple that are letting us stay for free.

We call them "Hotel Wilcox" and are grateful for their generosity

to our family during a busy time for them.

We have been there a number of times, and Kyle completed a 

course at Columbia University a few years ago and traveled there

often for school over a 6 month period of time.

It is a place that holds a little piece of all of our hearts.

So in the next little while, we are packing our bags, charging

our camera batteries, eating good food, and making a memory to last a lifetime.

We are so grateful to the many people that made this trip possible.

In ALL ways, it is hard to except this kind of generosity.

In ALL ways, it is a reminder of "WHY" people are doing nice

things.

In ALL ways, we are thankful and happy beyond words that we

are loved and cared about.

In ALL ways, we will use this to make a happy memory to

make us smile when the time comes we can no longer smile.

In EVERY WAY, we say "THANK YOU" to all my "SISTERS!"

Thank you!

Thank you!

Thank you!

We are so grateful for your love and kindness to us.

We are so happy to be able to do this through your kindness

and generosity to us.

Remember the old Wayne's World Clip from Saturday Night Live?

"We are not worthy!"

This is how we feel.

But Thank You again and again and again!

Love,

All of us at the Nielson home