Saturday Snapshots

Today's D-Blog Week prompt was "Saturday Snapshots." My first idea was to make a ransom note spelled out in test strips that said, "We have your pancreas. Give us all your money and time." But, well, I went out for a friend's birthday karaoke last night and what with all the singing and beer and cupcake and waking up late today, I didn't have time for arts and crafts (plus, it probably wouldn't have looked very good). Also, last night's party was a nice reminder, since I've been focusing so much on diabetes this week, that it doesn't actually take up all my money and time. So, instead, I'm going to show you three photos, that show the bad and the good of diabetes. The first represents the "bad." Today I gave myself a five-minute time limit to find as many diabetes supplies I could in my house. Five minutes, so this isn't everything. Here's a sample at what I have to store to keep myself alive:

That's not even everything, but it's quite the pile, huh? Now, for the good: the fantastic people who make up our community! Here are two photos from two of the three D-meetups I've been to, the first last summer, and the second in November. The first was quite an experience for me, because, well, it was the first time I'd thrown caution to the wind and met up with people I only knew FROM THE INTERNET. Clearly, they all could have created Twitter and blog accounts and been updating them for years just so they could meet me at a restaurant and murder me, right? Anyway, the famed k2, Kelly of Diabetesaliciousness, was coming in to town for a visit, so she organized a gathering of Toronto-area T1s, T2s, and one very furry T3 guide dog to meet at Wayne Gretzky's restaurant. I was really nervous and, when I couldn't find anyone, I almost left. That would have been a tragedy, because as soon as Kelly found me, I started to have a great time. In this picture, with me (both of the following photos are bad pictures of me), Scully, Virtue, Kelly, Larry, and Jamie, you can see the smiles on our faces, but you can't see how we talked for hours, had more in common than you'd think, or how we tormented (and entertained) the waiter having him take pictures of our rowdy crowd, friends after one meeting.

The second photo was taken on the occasion of Kerri's (Six Until Me) visit to Toronto. There was great confusion on my part because the coffee shop originally scheduled for the meeting was closed, but thankfully I found where the meeting was now taking place (well, after being rescued, anyway). It was a lovely meeting (photo: Larry, Jamie, Kerri, Virtue, me), and again, hours of talking (and gently mocking Kerri for deciding on an iced coffee in Toronto in November). These meetups remind me of the good things to come out of diabetes: friends I never would have made otherwise. The Diabetes Online Community is why I take better care of myself now than I ever have before. It's why I started this blog, and it's pretty much the best thing ever.

-Ilana