Hi, I’m Kristine. Nice to meet you! 

I feel very blessed with the life I have.  I was married to my husband Jeff for 25 years before he died due to ALS, Lou Gehrig’s Disease. We had a beautiful life. We raised two amazing boys. We had wonderful and flexible jobs.  We lived in a beautiful small Iowa town, surrounded by amazing friends and family. 

Before ALS, we were plugging along, running to basketball games and card clubs. We went to movies and laughed a lot. We found humor in the little things.  We had a funny dog and silly cats.  We played in the sun and played in the snow.  We had delicious dinners prepared by Jeff, who was an amazing cook.  We traveled to fun places.  We pulled weeds in our garden.  We enjoyed beautiful sunrises and awesome sunsets.  

Jeff’s ALS diagnosis was devastating.  It was hard to comprehend. It was scary.  We tried to wish it away. We prayed for anything but that diagnosis. We cried. We got angry. We cried some more.  We wanted not to believe the diagnosis. We knew our lives would change.  We knew challenges were ahead. Did I say we cried?

My life is beautiful. It is now a life forever impacted by ALS and it is still beautiful.  I have un-beautiful moments.  I have
un-beautiful anger and frustration.  The ALS was not beautiful.  I am appreciating beautiful moments in new, very intense ways.  I have found passion in travel. I want to make the most of this life I have been blessed with. I want to see the world with the people I love and I want to inspire people to explore this beautiful world of ours. Time on this earth is short. No regrets.