Monthly Archives: December 2012

Best Round Of Golf…EVER

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First of all, let me get the obvious out of the way first…yes I have not been very active this month on getting posts out the door.  I have no excuses, I just simply haven’t been able to force myself to sit down and get anything going.  I plan on fixing this issue over the next couple of days, so as a warning I may have several flowing soon.  On to the post…

Yesterday, despite the chilly weather in Dallas, I was able to get a quick last minute round of 9 holes of golf played with my new set of irons and it was by far the best round I have ever played.  When I say best round I am referring to the company that played along with me and the fun that we had.

You see, it was Mason’s first round of golf and grandpa was along to play with us so we had three generations of Fricke “men” playing together.  It started as a trip to Top Golf to just hit some balls and hang out, but after seeing there was a two hour wait for a bay we decided to just hit the driving range at the course by our house.  On the way there I thought we may as well just try and play a few holes before it got too dark and/or we got the call from grandma and Melanie to bring us home.  Fortunately I have an amazing wife that was very supportive and just said to have fun and grandma was too sick and married too long to my dad to worry about where we were or when we were coming home.  🙂

The excitement and joy on Mason’s face was a sight I will never forget and the energy that he showed as he ran from shot to shot just biting at the bit to hit another.  Fortunately for him he doesn’t hit it very far so there were plenty of opportunities to hit away.  Although, I am proud to say that he did outdrive grandpa on the seventh hole.  We won’t mention that it was due to a long run down the cart path as it all looks the same on the score card.  Right before Mason’s drive a hot air balloon came over the horizon only to lost altitude quickly and set down in the middle of the course.  I sure hope Mason doesn’t expect this type of excitement on every round.

Needless to say, I was very excited to have my dad along for Mason’s first round and I am hoping he will be there for Cutler’s as well.  I’m sure it will be just as much fun.

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For The Love Of The Game

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I was just looking through some old videos as I was cleaning up digitally and came across this gem of Mason and Grandpa playing some form of baseball that I am quite sure was concocted by Mason from this past summer.  It really made me realize how much I miss baseball and can’t wait until pitchers and catchers report in less than two months.  It also made me realize how fortunate I am to have a son that loves the game as much as I do to help me live vicariously through him over the next several years and fully expect Cutler to carry on just the same.

http://youtu.be/VX9FfW4gDcI

 

1096 Days Ago

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To the day, it’s been approximately 1096 days or the equivalent (not counting leap year) of three years and a day that Cutler had his bone marrow transplant.  Last night we celebrated by braving an outing to Chuck E Cheese and today we celebrated with a succesful trip to the oncologist for his quarterly appointment.  In true Cutler fashion he fussed for a nanosecond when the needle went into his arm to draw the blood and then he just watched as the blood was drawn.  Cutler is still all clean and we have now shifted to semi-annual visits.  While it is exciting to spread them out, I do miss seeing everyone that we have come to know so well over the years.  For instance today we were visited by Debbie, one of the main nurse administrators at the hospital.  It was so good to see her and you could tell how much she loves Cutler when he gave her a hug it made her, and us, a bit misty eyed.

Naturally any successful visit to an oncologist is brought down a bit when you see those starting their fights.  When we first got there, a little girl named Lucy, was playing in the waiting area with a mask on.  On the way down on the elevator her mom rode with us and I asked her about Lucy.  This poor girl was originally diagnosed with neuroblastoma, which then kicked off an extremely rare auto immune disorder called Opsoclonus-Myoclonus Syndrome.  It is one thing to battle neuroblastoma, but then to add OMS on top of it is a whole other ball game.  It makes us realize that much more how blessed we are that Cutler has come through as well as he has and with as little complications.  Lucy is a sweet and cute little girl.  Please pray for her to one day celebrate a 1096 day celebration such as ours.

Below are a couple of pictures from our visit.  One of Cutler with his favorite teddy bear and a couple of him working away at a tootsie pop and getting as close as he could to the camera to make my effort difficult.

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