Looking Back on 2009

I have decided to unashamedly "bite the style" of Kerri at Six Until Me and post a meme that she posted yesterday. It is the first lines of a definitive post from each month in 2009.

January: A long time ago I told you about a colleague that I found out had type 1 but did not really want to share about it.

February: Last night was a long one.

March: I left work yesterday a little late due to a phone system problem that I was trying to help figure out.

April: I won’t spend a lot of time asking for forgiveness for not posting.

May: Last November, I wanted to do something special for World Diabetes Day.

June: So the other day I went to dinner with my sisters to celebrate what would have been our grandma’s 100th birthday.

July: One thing that I felt as I sat in that room, with all those bloggers, was power.

August: Last night as I was out at the movies I asked my kids to record a video about Brother and Sister day.

September: I get tired of diabetes.

October: I write about a lot of topics on this blog but the most important and special one is fatherhood.

November: As much as I hate that we have to have this day, I am thankful that we do.

December: December 21st is the longest night of the year and when our church holds it's Blue Christmas service.

I hope you all have a safe and fun time ringing in the new year. 2010 is going to be awesome, I can just feel it!

Zip it!

When I was 15, I was playing Sega or Nintendo, watching TV, doing terrible in Spanish, and playing drums in band.

Pretty typical for a 15 year old. 

Monica Oxenreiter is a 15 year old who has had type one diabetes since she was thirteen months old. She may have come up with one of the coolest fund raising ideas ever.

ZIP THE CURE

Not only is that a cool name but it is also a great plan. It works like this, her goal is to raise $100 in every zip code in the country and send it all to the JDRF. That seems pretty doable and simple. But there are over 40,000 zip codes in the US which would raise over $4 million for diabetes research! WOW!

Sounds cool right? So why not get involved! Here are some ways you can help!

Be a volunteer! People are needed to help out so if you are interested please visit www.zipthecure.com. 

You can join the Facebook group!

Follow ZiptheCure on Twitter and ask your friends to follow them too.

If you would like to donate to the cause you can click here to donate via PayPal.

I hope you will donate, get involved, or at least spread the word. Monica is an awesome person and has some serious drive to put this all together. If we all get on board and help get the word out, we can help to raise some serious cash and hopefully Zip the Cure!

You Tube Tuesday #152

This is the last You Tube Tuesday in 2009 and it has to be one of my favorites already. 

Jack learned the hard way that being nice has its benefits.

Enjoy!

AFK

In preparing for Christmas I have been away from my computer, Twitter, and even email lately. I was practicing music for our Christmas Eve service, baking a bunch for all the holiday events, and going to said events.

It has been a busy week.

The problem is, there is no end in sight. Tonight I have dinner planned with some very good friends. Tomorrow night is our typical rehearsal for band. Wednesday night is Christmas with my in-laws who just go into town. Thursday is my wife's birthday and New's Years Eve of course! And then I am back to Friday night which is sure to be an impromptu event as most Friday's are on a holiday weekend. 

Whew!

And believe it or not, that is not the end of Christmas for the Simmons Family 4. We have Casino Christmas planned for the weekend of the 8th with my sisters and mom in Nevada. Then and only then will Christmas be finished and as much as I am looking forward to the end of the Holidays, I look forward to all the time I get to spend with family.

Diabetes has been having a field day with me during the holidays. My BG has been Double O.C. (that means Out Of Control) so the D has be ruining me. Even still I am determined to stay upbeat and jolly at all times. 

Not an easy feat when your blood sugar is 419 and everyone else is enjoying dinner (like last night) but I finally got to eat when my bg crashed 2 hours later. Not my favorite way to have dinner but it worked.

We always have to figure out a way to make it work don't we. I guess we can be angry about it or we can make the best of it and enjoy ourselves.

It really is up to us in the end isn't it? Still it is difficult to choose "happy" all the time.

For now, I am gonna still choose "happy."

***For those non geek speaking folk, AFK means "Away From Keyboard."***

Am Eye Crazy?

"Well, everything looks great! I guess I'll see you next year!"

"Wait. So everything is normal. Then why does my eye hurt so much?" 

"The change in weather I'm sure. Here are some eye drops. They should help." She opened up her drawer and handed me a box.

"Alright, well thanks!" I left the Ophthomologists office and called my wife to let her know that the whole eye thing was ok.

But then it hit me. Am I crazy? I mean, I have dry eyes and I think some awful thing is wrong with me. Why do I do that? Why do I freak out over any stupid little thing? 

But then one little word popped into my head that to explain why I think the way that I do.

Diabetes.

We don't get the luxury of thinking a stubbed toe is not a big deal, or feeling like an eyelash is in your eye something to ignore. We can't because diabetes wants to destroy us from every angle possible it seems and so we must act on any change anywhere. 

I don't know how you feel but it kind of makes me feel like a crazy person. The equivalent of checking on every single "bump in the night" because it is sure to be a boogieman or thief. The messing with my head is yet another side effect of diabetes, and I hate it too.

A good way for me to explain this craziness is to compare it to earthquakes and my fear of them. Ever since I was a kid, I have been told that the "Big One" is coming. A Gigantic quake that will shake all of our buildings to the ground and most of the southland will either sink into the ocean or become quicksand was going to happen any day now and you better be ready! 

I have heard of this "Big One" since first grade and almost every year after that. 

So now, anytime we have any sort of earthquake, the very first thought in my mind is, "Is this the 'Big One?'" I freak out if a big truck drives by and the building shakes. Every little 3.5 trembler makes me think I am going to die. I hate feeling that way.

Diabetes and Earthquakes. You would probably not expect these two things to have anything in common but in my bizarre brain, they do! They both have caused my brain to rewire itself into thinking any trembler is the start of something awful. 

In a weird way, it may be best to keep my wiring as is. 

At least that way I am always prepared for the worst.