Having been frustrated by planners and diabetes record keeping tools in the past, I finally used Lulu.com to make my own planner! I’m so excited. I ordered it today and will post photos when it arrives…. finally, a place to write down everything!

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted here.

I’m busy these days. Our lives here in Bellingham are unfolding in wonderful ways. And honestly, diabetes has mostly been on the periphery lately. We’re enjoying the summer weather with its cool pacific breezes and tolerating the odd hot day. We’ve had visitors and we’re having more in September. I’ve been learning a new way of painting. Days pass, and I don’t think much about diabetes. I do what I have to do, and move on.

But diabetes is still there. It’s there. No matter what. One day a few weeks ago I woke up and realized it’s been my constant companion for the last 6 years. And that felt really sad.

Meme time! From the lovely Julia.

Things you’ve already done: bold
Things you want to do: italicize
Things you haven’t done and don’t want to – leave in plain font

1. Started your own blog.

2. Slept under the stars. 

3. Played in a band

4. Visited Hawaii

5. Watched a meteor shower

6. Given more than you can afford to charity

7. Been to Disneyland/world

8. Climbed a mountain

9. Held a praying mantis

10. Sang a solo

11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch.

15. Adopted a child.

16. Had food poisoning. 

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty 

18. Grown your own vegetables.

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France 

20. Slept on an overnight train. 

21. Had a pillow fight. 

22. Hitch hiked.

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill. 

24. Built a snow fort

25. Held a lamb.

26. Gone skinny dipping.

27. Run a Marathon

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.

31. Hit a home run

32. Been on a cruise

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (kind of, at least the birth places of my adopted families ancestors)

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language.

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied. 

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing. 

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David

41. Sung karaoke (only once)

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

43. Bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant.

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight.

46. Been transported in an ambulance

47. Had your portrait painted.

48. Gone deep sea fishing.

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris (evidently I didn’t do much tourist stuff on any of my trips to Paris)

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling

52. Kissed in the rain

53. Played in the mud.

54. Gone to a drive-in theater.

55. Been in a movie (Monumental, as an extra. Never seen it but they paid me 75$ for a couple hours of work. I was in NYC with some theater friends, so it was definitely a tag along kind of thing.)

56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business 

58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies

62. Gone whale watching.

63. Gotten flowers for no reason

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma

65. Gone sky diving

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check (in high school)

68. Flown in a helicopter

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial 

71. Eaten Caviar

72. Pieced a quilt

73. Stood in Times Square 

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job

76. Seen the Changing of the Guard in London 

77. Broken a bone

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person

80. Published a book

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car.

83. Walked in Jerusalem 

84. Had your picture in the newspaper.

85. Read the entire Bible

86. Visited the White House 

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

88. Had chickenpox. 

89. Saved someone’s life.

90. Sat on a jury

91. Met someone famous. 

92. Joined a book club

93. Lost a loved one.

94. Had a baby.

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a law suit

98. Owned a cell phone. 

99. Been stung by a bee 

2009 is upon us. Daniel’s 32, and I’m 29. We’re beginning to look into adoption, we’re looking into possibly getting a house this year or next, we’re looking ahead to many changes. It’s exciting, and frightening, and feels just right. 

Today at Thanksgiving dinner we read this meditation from Elizabeth M. Strong. We edited it slightly to fit our own circumstances. I’m reprinting it here because I feel it fits our diabetic community as well, and reflects a portion of the gratitude I feel for all of you.

Let us rejoice for the families who have gathered this Thanksgiving to express their thanks and to celebrate the bounty of their lives. 

Let us join together in support of those whose families are far away, with distances in many forms.

Let us hold one another in gentle reverence this holiday of Thanksgiving for we are here to celebrate and to be thankful for what we have.

We have had life newborn among us this year that will carry our legacy into the future.

We have had death among us this year that has given us tears of sorrow and yesterdays to remember.

We have had illnesses, accidents, and surgeries among us this year that have reminded us of the fragileness of our lives.

We have had marriages, reunions, reconciliations. And, we have had, and still do have, our homes, where we come together in love and compassion.

For all these things, we give thanks this day.

I had a CT scan on Monday to monitor the progress of my lung cavity (which came from Valley Fever). There was a time when the cavity was growing… each CT showing it a little bigger. Then it began to shrink instead, which was a major relief. And I just got the results from Monday’s CT this afternoon… and my lung cavity is GONE! All that remains is a little scarring. I am so, so excited. It’s been a long and uncertain road, and the relief that I feel today, and the relief that Daniel feels, is amazing.

With diabetes, though it is undeniably hard, I had some idea of what I needed to do to manage it and what I could expect in the future, good or bad. With Valley Fever I had none of that, and not knowing and feeling out of control was very difficult. 

I still have Valley Fever and will always have it, but for now it seems that I am free of active symptoms and active disease. And that’s so incredibly wonderful.

Before I stop posting political things, I want to express my deep sorrow at the passing of proposition 8 in California, and similar measures in Arizona and Florida. Arkansas also passed a measure banning unmarried couples from being adoptive or foster parents.

Love isn’t about laws. It just isn’t. And this isn’t right.

I am so, so excited.

This month I have a few printmaking things to get done, specifically 2 shows I want to submit to. One of them is a Breast Cancer Awareness show that’s local, and I’m pleased to be involved as breast cancer is a part of my family’s medical history and although I don’t know my own medical history, it’s an important consideration for women of all ages. (Update: I didn’t end up entering this, but still support the cause!!)

Other than printmaking, our lives seem to be suddenly filling up. Summer was slow and glorious, and now that there are cloudy days and bright leaves and kids in school clothes, my calendar has become a bit crowded. So far, I love it. It was such a strange thing to have so much of last winter taken up by Valley Fever, and it feels good to be building a life and community here in Bellingham.

And the leaves are changing. It’s not quite the amazing color of the street where I grew up, where every tree was that transparent yellow-orange that seems to burn in even the slightest bit of sunlight, but it’s wonderful in its own way. And the smell of woodsmoke and pencil shavings, and the sharpness in the night air, and the cool ocean breezes… I feel like a kid again, ready to be thrown by my dad into a six foot pile of crunchy leaves. Ready to put on my brown Mary Janes and kneesocks and head off for school.

This past weekend was our church retreat in Canada, and Daniel and I had such a nice time. To speak to people you had known on the surface, and to suddenly find each other to be so much more than you had imagined… to look at each other then as you might look at a familiar field, when, for the first time after years of broken soil and the brittle yellow ends of dead grass, it grows over in thick profusion with the hopeful red cups of poppies.

So, last Sunday, on their way back from Vancouver, Manny and his wife Andreina and his son Santiago stopped by Bellingham for a little visit! It was great to meet them in person. We met at Boulevard Park, where Santiago had a great time on the pirate ship playground, and we had time for a stroll down the boardwalk before they had to head back south. It was a clear, warm September day, with just a hint of coolness in the air, and Daniel and I really were glad to have the chance to meet such smart, funny, creative people who are so active in our diabetes community. A big thanks to both of them for all they do.

Andreina gave me a beautiful print, shades of green with botanical shapes, and I love it!  You should all go check out her art.

I’ve been a bad blogger. I know that. I also know that as the skies cloud over and the rains come, I’ll be a better blogger. But I do read the blogs in the Diabetes Daily feeds, and I am thinking of all of you. I think I just needed a break from thinking too much about diabetes, and what better time to take one than when the sun is shining!