Moments of Wonderful

…rather than a lifetime of nothing special. A blog about diabetes and other moments.

...rather than a lifetime of nothing special. A blog about diabetes and other moments.

Category Archives: family

Discuss diabetes and my mom

My mom was not the parent of a child with diabetes, but she is the parent of an adult with diabetes. I still remember being away at college and in the emergency room at 1 AM when I was diagnosed and trying to decide if I should call her and wake her up to let her know what was going on or if I should wait until morning (don’t worry, I called).

Today I have the honor of sharing stories about my mom and how diabetes became part of our family life on Sanofi’s Discuss Diabetes blog. It was fun to think through all of our family stories and recent adventures to narrow it down to the two stories featured in the article.

Happy Mother’s Day Mom!

After you read about my mom, be sure to check out posts from Kerri, Wendy, Jacquie, and Joanne too. So many amazing moms in the diabetes online community!

He’s not here!

It’s hard to celebrate holidays so far away from my family. Thankfully I have always been known to have my camera and video camera running so I have some precious memories of past year’s events.

I posted this video last Easter, but it is just too perfect not to share again.

Happy Easter!
He’s not here!

Flashback Friday – Get me out of here!

Setting aside Faith Friday for a week to offer a Flashback Friday instead.

Last week, Joanne over at Death of a Pancreas posted about her daughter’s entry into the world of soccer and she posted a picture of herself in one of her early years of playing. I left a comment about having an embarrassing soccer story that I wasn’t sure if I could even write. She sent me an e-mail asking about it and I couldn’t turn down someone with kids as adorable as her kids so here we go (Joanne – I hope this motivates you to pick FFL in Florida!).

I grew up in the suburbs of southern California. Like many other suburbs across the country, that meant one thing – I played soccer. Everyone played soccer. There were entire Saturdays spent on the soccer field when my brother played, I played, and my dad refereed.

The only problem was that I didn’t like soccer. At all. I don’t really like to run and soccer season in California was HOT. VERY HOT.

The first year I played I was on a team that wore yellow uniforms with black stripes. We called ourselves the Golden Girls. And we were about as good at soccer as the actual Golden Girls. We lost all of our games except the last one, which we tied. The only other thing I remember about that season was that our coach was mean and quit before the end of the season.

The next season I had the “good fortune” of being placed on a much better team. There was a girl from my church and school that was a pretty good player and her dad was one of the assistant coaches so I was able to join that team.

That year, I had two sports related injuries. The first happened when I was late to practice and running down the asphalt to the field. My shoes weren’t tied, I tripped, and knocked the wind out of myself. The second injury was when I tried to do a header, missed horribly, and got a bloody nose.

With all that, my last day of soccer was probably not a surprise to anyone. As I mentioned, my team was pretty good and we made the tournament playoffs. It was hot, I was tired, but I had to play. Yes – I had to play. I just looked up the rules to make sure my memory was correct, and the league I was in made every player play at least 3/4 of the game (whether they wanted to or not).

I was probably playing fullback or halfback (remember – no running), and instead of playing the game, I ran over to my mom on the sidelines. I don’t remember my exact wording, but according to my mom it was something like -

“Do I LOOK like these other girls*? Do I LOOK like I’m having FUN? GET ME OUT OF HERE!”

We thankfully lost the game, and that was the last day I played soccer. The thing is, I am incredibly competitive and play everything else to win. Just not soccer.

*Please don’t take this as a judgement against soccer players. I was 9 or 10. Some of my best friends were and are soccer players. I just wanted off the field.

Yes, this was my original uniform. No, I’m not sure what part of my soccer history inspired my mom to hang on to it.

How I spent my Christmas vacation

Today is my first day back at work, so I figured it would be a perfect day to share what I did during my break. Isn’t that what kids typically do on the first day back at school?

On the day before Christmas eve, my mom and I packed up her car and headed to my brother’s house. This was the year that we were going to cut back on our gift giving. From the view into the back seat, I think it worked out pretty well. We thought that by leaving the day before Christmas Eve, we would be able to miss a lot of the traffic. We were wrong, and very thankful when we finally arrived.

 

On Christmas Eve, we added an evening service together as a family. I think the boys especially enjoyed the candle-lit portions.

After that we went home and enjoyed a spectacular prime rib dinner. It was my only major diabetes mis-step of the break. A few too many pieces of homemade bread and an unexpected glass of wine made for a very angry graph and a delayed portion of creme brûlée.
Christmas Eve dinner
After the kids went to bed, we set out the final preparations under the tree. I may have raged bolused during dinner, so I “played Santa” and ate the treats we left out. Apparently I didn’t eat enough because the youngest told me the next morning that Santa left too many crumbs and that he ate the leftovers.

 

 

In typical kid fashion the presents were open very quickly. A few gifts of note. After carrying around a fake cell phone for years, my niece finally got a real phone of her very own. She had been told that she would not get one until her 13th birthday – in 2 1/2 years – so the gift was quite a surprise.
 
tears of joy
My brother knows how much I love my cats, so he got me a gift to help me take care of them. They get lonely when I’m not around so it will be nice to give them a little extra attention (hint: click on the picture).
 
my present was...

We spent the next few days enjoying all of our new gifts and the great weather.

If you are ever in Vegas, this destination is a must see!

A remote controlled plane and a 70 degree day (it was snowing the same time last year) led to a picnic in the park.
day at the parkday at the parkday at the park

Both my niece and nephew got new cameras so there were quite few image captured of the afternoon.

One of my favorite activities with one of my favorite little people was eating some boogers, ear wax, blisters, and stomach fluid. The ear wax was my favorite – tasted just like a tootsie roll.
eww!

All too soon it was time to take me to the airport. Thankfully a few little monsters made sure that I made it there safely.
little monsters

I took a overnight flight back to Florida and picked up one last Christmas present the next day. My brother bought my sister an iPhone for Christmas and loved it so much that he ended up getting one for himself a few days later. I have been wanting one since Siri came out, and through a holiday upgrade exception was FINALLY able to make it happen. I am so excited to use it, and have even jumped back into the diabetes365 project (join us on facebook).

best present!

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P.S. I wrote a new post on Diabetes Daily about my issues with holiday food hoarding and was happy to find out I’m not the only one. Are you a holiday food hoarder too?

Faith Friday: A Child Is Born

I’m publishing this post right before the Friday deadline, but as long as it gets up today it counts, right?

I just love Christmas time. The lights, the decorations, the songs, shopping for just the right present, and spending time with friends and family.

Most of the birthdays in my family take place between Mother’s Day and the first week of July, but there are a few exceptions. The best exception is my “baby” nephew.

He was born in late November so his first Christmas he had the honor of playing the most important role in the church’s Christmas pageant – baby Jesus.

I can’t believe this drooly guy just celebrated his sixth birthday and I can’t wait to see him and the rest of my family in just a few weeks.

 

 

 

 

“For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
~Isaiah 9:6

Moments with my mom

I have always enjoyed reading posts from around the blogosphere from the parents of people with diabetes. Whether it is someone raising a child with diabetes right now (like Reyna, Joanne, Lorraine, Meri, Alexis, and so many more) or posts from Jess’ or Kerri’s mom posted on their blogs. Every time I see those types of posts it makes me wonder what my mom would say.

As you know, she didn’t grow up with a child with diabetes. I was not diagnosed until my senior year of college, at which point I has been out of the house for four years. Due to the cost of graduate school, I moved home for the next two years. However, the majority of my life with diabetes has been out of her house.

Instead of just continuing to wondering what she thinks, this weekend I decided to ask her. Living across the country, I had to use technology and send her the questions by e-mail. Here are her responses with some of my favorite pictures from past and present mixed in.

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What is your favorite thing about having me for a daughter? Now that you are an adult, my favorite things about having you for a daughter have changed. I enjoy your zest for living, your passion to help others and the fact that we enjoy each others company and can laugh together and share on those precious occasions.

me in the front, mom in the backMy mom loves our matching pajamas

What did you know about diabetes before I was diagnosed? Very little. Mostly about type 2 that could be controlled through diet and that it was a pancreas related issue [Her mom has had type 2 diabetes for many years, unfortunately with complications].

Mom, brother, and I
What do you remember from my diagnosis? I remember how frustrated we were by the lack of follow-up and straight answers until it was way too late. I remember distinctly your bugging eyes and skinny body weeks before you were hospitalized.

What is the biggest thing you have learned about diabetes in the past 8 years? I have learned how all consuming it can be not just monitoring what food goes in but also activity levels, sleep == everything to stay on an even keel. I’ve learned many little things too regarding technology and advances, but you asked for the biggest.

Thanksgiving at DisneyThanksgiving at Disney

What do you think about blogging? I think it has a huge value to bring people together for a common interest.

What do you think about the diabetes online community? In reading your entries and the comments of others, you are a huge support system for each other. Then having the privilege to meet some of the people face to face I am convinced they are responsible for your navigating the diabetes experience so successfully. As a type 3 it is helpful for me to read periodically to know where your thoughts are and action steps you are taking; since we don’t get to talk too often — I feel like an eaves dropper but it is all I’ve got.
Team Ninjabetic

Most of my diabetes friends were diagnosed when they were little and their parents felt (and still often feel) a great responsibility for their care. How did/does it feel to be the parent of an adult with diabetes? Especially considering I live across the country from you now. I feel very powerless to help except through prayer. When I read about your discouragements or challenges, my heart breaks but I have to trust God to bring you through and to allow you to prosper. I also have to know that you are blessed with an intelligence and determination beyond the norm and you will make the right decisions for your care.

getting a pedicure before George's walk

Any specific worries you have related to my diabetes? Living alone and experiencing a low so low that you can’t make the right decision to remedy it. Also I am concerned about the long term effects on your body but the man that is the head of the Disney conference (aka Jeff Hitchcock) was very encouraging in that regard at the last conference [she met him when she came to visit me after Roche].
mom learning how to use glucagon

Have you seen any positive aspects of my life with diabetes? In some respects it has made you more disciplined and definitely more caring for others and aware of giving people grace because we may not know their story.

Any final thoughts? I wish with all my heart that you did not have diabetes but I think it has made you a much stronger person and definitely pushed you outside your comfort zone to connect with a broader base of people as a result of the online community.
Mom and her mini-me

Thanks for your help Mom!

P.S. My mom hates that last picture but I LOVE it! Everyone thinks my youngest nephew looks the most like her, so we make him make the faces she is famous for.