A few quite significant events occurred during the time I was employed at Dakotah Direct.

One of them was that we bought a home. As we wanted to move to town from a country lifestyle that started to look utterly unsustainable, we were looking to purchase a house. How we finally ended up being able to move into our home in May 1998 is an incredible story, that taught me to trust. It also showed me that even if it looks like everything is against your dream, it can become reality and to not give up. We could hardly believe our good “fortune”. For months when sitting in the living room, we just admired the beautiful home we now lived in. The decision to find a job paid off big time as financing was not an issue anymore and we had no problem to also make payments on our piece of land at the same time until we sold it. From our new home we can reach almost any place we really need to go to by walking or biking. And due to the position I had we were able to pay off the mortgage quickly.

Another major event was Berta’s decision of having surgery. For quite some time Berta has had headaches and other symptoms, like loosing hearing on one side, being affected strongly by bumpy roads, frequent headaches, etc. Finally, after another morning of head pains, Berta saw an audiologist. He found nothing, leaving one more thing to do, an MRI of the head. Reluctantly Berta finally had it done and there it was – a tumor the size of an egg, called “acoustic neuroma”. It grows over many years out of the auditory nerve. It sits between the skull bone and the brain membrane and pushes the brainstem to the side, which can cause serious problems. What a shock for Berta as an alternative health practitioner leading a quite healthy lifestyle. After a lot of research, thinking, learning and trying alternative methods to get well, 6 months later Berta had surgery and a few very dramatic moments. It took a while afterwards, but today Berta is fine and one does not notice that Berta has had surgery. We are glad and grateful everything went so well and our attitude towards surgery has changed. Even though we still would choose surgery as one of the last measures and not in all circumstances, surgery can help tremendously.

This would have potentially been a great financial burden for us as Berta chose the best surgeons and facilities in the US, but due to the health insurance through my employment, our stable financial situation and trust in life, we lived through this time quite gracefully, all things considered.

Berta experienced deep loss when both her parents passed within 3 years. This was a big change for the whole family. Berta loves her parents deeply and the grieving for her parents was a difficult time. To me, her parents were the glue that had held the family together and they also introduced me to how strong bonds between family members can be and what warmth family gatherings can radiate, something I had not experienced before in my life. They will be always missed and loved.