Ah, my heart’s hope is that you have awoken to a bright, sunny day today.  If not, bring the sun with you!  What does that mean?  Each one of us has something dear to our hearts or perhaps many treasures that lift us into a sunny way of thinking.  Why not have these treasures of “sun” available for days where we need to shift away some “cloudy” thoughts or bring an already sunny day to an even more magnificent day. 

Are there people & treasures that you know in an instant will bring a smile to your face & heart?  These are priceless gifts.  The list of Dear Hearts that I love that are the “sun” within my heart is a long one thank goodness.  Many have always been there & a good many have been added & the circle of love is ever expanding thank goodness.  Diabetes has magnified an already grateful heart I have found.  Bringing our own “sun” or light to a day or situation is even more natural I have found since diabetes entered my life.  I am not grateful for diabetes yet it at least has propelled the magnification by choice for gratitude for all that is good & great in my life.  You may have noticed this too if you have either diabetes or another 365 challenge or if you are having an especially challenging day.

As an ironic aside, when I was a young girl growing up, there was a commercial on television that described orange juice as sun in a glass.  A few moments ago, I started to feel all the classic signs of hypoglycemia & then tested my blood sugars & sure enough, I was in a low.  My favourite fast acting sugar is the mini orange juice.  In this way, even as a grown up, I do believe that yes, orange juice is sun in a glass!  It is a small thing, yet, our fast acting sugars all ready to go can be instant sources of sun or gratitude.  It may seem small, yet it is pretty meaningful.

One morning not so long ago, as I was accompanying our boys to school, we noticed a large group of people out together walking their dogs.  We joked that it looked like a dog related convention had come to town.  That got me thinking about another way that we each get to bring the “sun” to our daily life.  For as long as I can remember, my heart is joyful in the company of dogs & I have a special joy for golden retrievers.  From a very young age, I dreamed of being owned by a golden retriever.  When my husband & I had been married for 2 years, we crossed paths with our first beautiful golden retriever.  We will be forever grateful to have been loved by “Twinings” the first golden that we were owned by.  Just waking up to her nose to ours in the morning & her wagging tail meant that it was a great start to the day.  Now, our Bedford, the second golden that we have been owned by, has her perpetual smile & way of finding mud everywhere she goes & brings that ear to ear smile of a start to each day.  For my heart, having “golden love” is the extra sun for every day.  I feel that way of course for & about my husband & our sons & all my family & friends & parish family & community families too. 

It may seem funny to thank one’s dog but that is kind of where my eccentric mind is going today as I reflect upon that start to the day of seeing the “dog walking convention” of the morning.  I love that whenever Beddy & I run into our mail carrier that he recognizes her & always has a biscuit ready for her.  On Christmas eve, he left a biscuit for her on top of the mailbox.  There are those days for most of us where we may find our day being challenging & we just need that instant sun to help us to feel hopeful again.  That sunny feeling can start with our dogs.  How cool is that.  The sun may come from someone or something other than dogs for you, yet my heart’s hope is that you know instantly that someone or something that you can instantly access for healing & light.  Whether it is bring your own dog (BYOD) or another Dear Heart, may you instantly bring the light back into your day when you need it.

Smiles, Saundie :)

Have a light filled week & next Monday's sharing is, " Boil to Simmer & Stop, Drop & Roll."    :)

Do you find that you feel that it is an absolute treasure to have a group of Dear Hearts in your life that love & accept you on the great days, good days, bad days & all the days in between?  Is it a tiny group or perhaps even just one person that you know with certainty that you can be yourself with no masks, putting on a brave front…just pure honesty & genuineness?  Although I have a positive attitude, let’s face it, there are those days that wipe us out either physically or emotionally or both.  That is part of being human & to be expected.  Some days, don’t you find that many challenges can come our way & we handle these without too much difficulty?  Here’s something that I don’t talk about often & that is the inevitable days that hit us like a ton of bricks & we need to re-group & get strengthened again.

Whether we have diabetes or another 365 challenge, let’s call a spade a spade & chat a wee bit about how those days feel, the support that we appreciate & very much need & the strategies that we each employ for those very days.  We all know intellectually that there is not a person alive that has a perfect life.  It is often surprising I have found to discover some of the situations that would appear to be ones of a blissful life that are the polar opposite of bliss in reality.  Some folks feel the need for his or her personal reasons to portray that life is going great for them continuously.  It is one thing to be a person who chooses a positive attitude yet my value is that this is done in a genuine way.  In other words, my choice is to choose my attitude yet honestly admit that everything is not paradise on earth.  We all have struggles.  Is it helpful to hide these struggles from one another or share them?  We each answer that for ourselves.  If we are pretending to be someone that we are truly not or living a life that looks sparkly on the outside & yet is far from that on the inside, how does that make us feel?  How does that influence how others feel or choose to share or become vulnerable & honest?

As I have shared before, choosing a pity party for one is not an option with a good outcome for me.  A better choice for me at least is to admit the truth with a story, in humour, humility truth & kindness.  When we open up in this way with others, most often I have found that many folks are relieved & give themselves permission to open up to us in truth & friendship too.  We are not meant to “suffer in silence” or alone as the saying goes.  If we have a battle buddy or several for the journey, that we can be “real” with then we are blessed indeed I believe.  Feeling alone in a struggle is exhausting amongst other things. 

If you are a gal, reading between the lines, you may just share this similar struggle to the one I am about to share with you next.  Please don’t get me wrong, I am not suggesting that guys don’t have struggles of their own.  This sharing is just from a gal’s personal perspective & nothing more.  Gals have hormonal ups & downs a lot like doing the hokey pokey in that we are “shaken all about” chemically from one day or week to the next.  That’s just the way it is.  Now, layer on type 1 diabetes for example.  Oh man, it is like hanging up a dart board & then putting it on a fast moving pulley system & being told to hit the target.  Good luck is what we need at times!  We may just get our basal & bolus rates figured out & them boom, our hormones do a trip on the tilt a whirl & those rates no longer work for us.  That is exactly what is happening to me big time these days.  What makes this even more frustrating is that it is difficult to figure out what the “new normal” insulin calculations are going to be now & my blood sugars seem to have a mind of their own.  There is no rhyme or reason currently  suddenly with my blood sugars.  Also there is no reasoning with a pancreas “having a meltdown” or g.i. issue deciding to flare up just in time for a full summer of planned fun.  To say that type 1 diabetes is complicated is a ridiculous understatement yet many folks do not realize that with type 1 often comes additional autoimmune diseases over time in addition to any other potential physical & emotional challenges.  Folks with type 1 diabetes really should receive a certificate in professional juggling in addition to a math degree, cognitive behavioral counseling honourary degree & a myriad of other honourary degrees on a lighter note.   You may find this has happened or is happening to you too.  While this goes on, the hormones play havoc potentially with our thoughts & emotions chemically & the diabetes side of things does a number on us potentially physically & emotionally as well.  We become jugglers with the hormones & the diabetes care as well as other diseases that we battle as a result of having the autoimmune disease called type 1 diabetes.  Often other Dear Hearts living with insulin dependent diabetes share with me that when his or her blood sugars increase (or go quite a bit out of range) that patience becomes problematic.  Emotionally, I have equated this feeling with that of being a balloon & having too much air continuously forced in & trying to keep composed.  When my blood sugars rise too high, my go to strategy is what I call the warn, duck & cover!  Simply, I admit to folks closet to me that I am feeling the effects of the high blood sugar & let them know that it would be better for everyone if I leave for a while.  This is ideal.  There are times for all of us when we cannot do a warn, duck & cover maneuver & my heart goes out to you if you have found yourself in these situations.  They can be a feat of human strength.  The minute though that I can take cover, I do in these situations.  Thankfully, I do not find that I have to resort to making a getaway very often.  It does happen though. 

There was a time early on in my diagnosis that I did not give myself permission to acknowledge let alone have a plan for the high blood sugar, freaky hormone combination situations.  That has changed thankfully.  With the combination having hit recently out of nowhere, I have chosen to readjust my week accordingly.  My choice has been to try deferring making bigger decisions, not interfacing with folks who can behave in ways that would not bring out the best reaction in me right now and changing activities from the usual flurry of activity to a gentler pace while I attempt to turn myself right side up.  For a short turnaround time, I am “hunkering in the bunker.”  I found that when I did not use to allow myself the “hunker” time that the result was that I became sicker & sicker until I was forced to take a break as my body literally demanded it.  Also, I find it helpful at least in my situation to keep in the forefront of my mind the book, “The Screwtape Letters.”  It is a vivid reminder of the ultimate damage of “noise” or not taking time in quiet reflection.   Thankfully, my husband also in a timely way reminded me in a good humoured fashion about a quote that is a great fit especially right now that I will share with you in a moment.  Have you found that when you experience the roller coaster blood sugar, freaky hormone combination that you are not receptive of folks contacting you with urgent requests to action immediately?  That is a minor pet peeve of mine yet usually it does not get to me too much.  It does however cheese me off to no end when I have the high blood sugar, super freaky hormone combination happening.  A large number of those requests for immediate action have happened in the last couple of weeks.  The trouble is that the situations seem to appear to require speedy action or decision making due to the folks requesting this having waited until the last moment.  The quote that my husband reminded me about was along the lines of “poor planning on your part does not an emergency make on my part.”  My policy during “bunker time” is that if someone is pressuring me for an urgent decision due to leaving things until the last minute that the answer will be no.  If someone needs an answer right that minute under those circumstances then it will be no & if they choose to wait or provide adequate time then the decision will be given respectful thought. It is not my natural instinct to adopt this "policy."  The "policy" however is a part of my blood sugar management literally.  In other words, pressure equals stress & stress to my body equals high blood sugars.   I hope that this does not sound harsh but instead simply the sharing of the truth & promoting an environment of being able to be genuine with one another.  Even I with my positive attitude have a “cranky day” here & there.  It is what the heck we do with these days that can get us back to being more like ourselves again.  We can choose to deny that anything is happening or to just keep going, or try being busier than ever or even take our “crankiness “out on others.  Or, we can admit to ourselves that we are having “one of those collisions of high blood sugar/weird hormone days” & give ourselves the opportunity to re-group & be gentle with ourselves.  I don’t “hunker in the bunker” for long at all I find.  It is usually a case of rescheduling for a couple of days & then I feel re-energized again with a plan on how to be as healthy & joy-filled as possible even within the parameters of the sugar/hormone collision.  Let’s face it that in life as with any collision, it is a very bad choice to keep going during a collision.  It is better to assess the situation, take care of our physical & emotional needs & protect the relationships of others around us.  The other cool thing that I have found is that often absence truly does make the heart grow fonder as the saying goes.  When we fully “re-surface” after a short break, the Dear Hearts in our lives tend to be excited to see us out & about again.

This morning I ran into a Dear Heart friend & I admitted to her that I am having a bout of “crankiness.”   I shared with her that I have not slept more than a few hours each night for over 2 weeks due to abdominal pain & high blood sugars.  Additionally, we briefly discussed how the summer is going so far.  The last 4 days alone have been especially exhausting with the addition of some external stressors on top of the physical side of type 1, the hormonal roller coaster, the g.i. flare up & high blood sugars at bedtime.   Just saying it to her was a relief, very human, and was an opportunity to grow the friendship.  She looked at me with a smile & said a couple of things that touched my heart.  The first thing that she said was that she could not tell.  Next, she said that it helps others when they know that we are having a cranky day.  I appreciated those words.  Then we smiled knowingly & told one another how much we are looking forward to having tea in a week or so & just chatting & sharing time together.  I even found myself finding my humour & making a wee joke before jumping into the car & getting back to my temporary bunker.

My heart’s hope for you is that during those times of “collision” that you know that this is a natural part of life & that having a gentle plan for yourself during these times is a choice.  Most of all, may you know that you are not alone & that you are exactly a beautiful original.  Smiles, Saundie :)

Have a genuinely original you week & next Monday, we will lighten things up with "BYOD"  :)

It’s a jungle out there they say.  Sometimes “the jungle” is happening within our relationships with others though.

When you meet a new acquaintance, does your divulging of diabetes cross your mind at some point?  How about if you know you are going to have ongoing interactions with this person or group of new people?  It may be a question of your level of comfort talking about diabetes or time & experience living with the diagnosis.   

Our health can feel deeply personal to us & difficult to talk about at times especially with newcomers.  I am incredibly comfortable with advocating about diabetes & dispelling myths. I hope to encourage other folks to take the opportunity to learn the actual facts.  It did not take me long to get to this point yet we are each unique & I sure try to be sensitive to folks who are still building their level of comfort.  The thing that I find more challenging is potentially talking to other folks who do not have diabetes who may feel like asking Scotty “to beam them up.”  Are other folks uncomfortable when they see us treating our diabetes or having us share that we have this?  You bet a lot of folks seem to be!  The great news is that with education comes comfort.

My sharing of type 1 with new acquaintances has 2 speeds:  slow or fast.  To determine whether I will simply let our relationship develop & naturally in time share or share right away is dependent upon 2 things.  The groups that are of a more sedentary nature can be slow speed sharing. The groups that I become involved in that have physical components or involve working with children’s groups are fast speed sharing.  Fast speed sharing is what I refer to humorously as mentioning in a low key way that there is an “elephant on the table”.  The reason is that if I go into low blood sugar, the other adults need to know what is happening & that I have to “juice up” & have 10 minutes on a “recess for one”.  It is to me just common sense to provide this information much like as a parent, we would not hesitate to share allergy information about our children.

Diabetes is not funny yet we can choose to approach the subject with comfort.  That is the reason that for me at least, I literally share when needed with new folks the one liner, “excuse me Miss or Mister but there is an elephant on the table.”  It has so far almost always resulted in alleviating any discomfort yet at the same time sharing necessary information.

Most times, I find that others appreciate knowing that we are proactively sharing information that will be helpful particularly if we need to treat a low blood sugar during a community activity.  If we are part of a team, then it makes sense to share this information that can affect others within the group.  In my experience, the vast majority of people have been gems in receiving the “elephant on the table.”  There have been a handful of folks that have continued to want to be “beamed up by Scotty.”  Those few folks were uncomfortable with any approach to discussion of diabetes or 365 challenges.  These are generally the folks that as a result of his or her choice have been caught off guard when I have gone into hypoglycemia because they had “tuned out” when I shared the information initially about “the elephant in the room.”  One example of that was an instance when I requested information about a group hike & the person gave me information that the hike would be half the distance of what it turned out to be in reality.  I had mentioned to this person that I did not mean to bother them however I would need the exercise information so that I could give myself the correct amount of insulin at breakfast time just prior to the hike.  Immediately following the hike, I was in low blood sugar.  I quietly went to an area in the picnic area following the hike & drank a juice box at the speed of light.  Several similar situations continued to happen with let’s call this person “Scotty” because they could not handle “elephants in the room.”  “Scotty” is only being mentioned just to be realistic that not every single person is going to be understanding about “the elephant.”  Could it be that some people can actually be detrimental to our health?  We answer that question for ourselves.  We also get to choose whether we will continue to interchange with folks with that “elephant barrier.”  The great news is that the folks that want to be part of “the safari” are the norm I have found.  My heart is grateful to “the safari” crowd.

The “elephant on the table” way of sharing may not be your style yet it may just give you an idea of how you would feel most comfortable sharing with newcomers.  I sure hope so!

Smiles, Saundie :)

May you be surrounded with an encouraging "safari" & next Monday's sharing is "BYOD"  :)

What is your favourite thing to do in the whole wide world?  Is it free?  Is it something that you could do on any day of the year or as often as you want?  Would there be much planning that you would need to do to execute your enjoyable activity?  Once the activity is over, will it be paying you in dividends so to speak?

To share with you, when I think of those questions, it comes down to simplicity.  Sure, I would love to eventually do some travelling once our sons are older.  That is a here & there future plan yet day in & day out, the answer to the question is usually one of a few possibilities.  The activities that make my heart smile are either virtually cost neutral from a monetary perspective or of a nominal amount.  The short list includes:  a walk in nature either alone with our furry gal or with a friend as well, a tea experience with a Dear Heart,enjoying an uplifting book, writing or sharing time in spiritual growth. The combination of a few of these activities at once is medicinal I find for myself.  You will have your own list of favourites.  When we look at our lists of favourites, do you find that the activities are simple yet meaningful or are they more involved?  Each one of us is a beautiful original.  We are each on our own journey walking with one another yet we can be at different phases on the path.  Let’s face it, when we were children, we would certainly give different answers to these questions likely than we give now. 

You know already that I do not have any background whatsoever in science or medicine.  I was instead given a sentimental heart & it is my vocation to wake up each day & say the same thing, “it is not about me so who can use some kindness today.”  Every person will have his or her own mission in life to give to the world & that is exactly right.  Along with the sentimental heart, thankfully, it is my feeling that I was given some humour genetically.  There are several Dear Hearts in my family that have absolutely amazing senses of humour.  A sense of humour has been a valued companion especially over the past 5 years living with type 1 diabetes.  If you are a “pumper”, you may share the countless experiences of your pump beeping & other folks asking you if your pedometer is malfunctioning.  I have found quite a few humourous responses over the years surrounding the “beeping insulin pump.”  At times others will come across as a wee bit embarrassed when they realize that what they thought was your pedometer is actually an insulin pump.  You know what, I don’t personally find my insulin pump anything to be embarrassed about & I sure don’t want others to feel embarrassed mentioning it or asking me questions.  Just last week,  a lady was asking me some questions & she could see through humour, a genuine smile & my enthusiastic answers that she could comfortably ask me anything at all about my pump.  Finally, she said that she really wanted to know how the pump was attached to my body.  I asked her if she would like to see the infusion attached & she said that she would.  The infusion was just on my side so that’s no big deal to me.  She was kind of fascinated.  She shared some of her assumptions about diabetes, insulin pumps & related things.  How cool was that though that by having a humourous, honest & humble chat that she went away with the real deal on some aspects of life with diabetes.

It does not matter what type of a mood I am in on any given day, there is one activity from my list that is 100% reliable in either taking a blue mood to a better mood or a good mood to a great one.  You may share that you love to walk too.  Utopia is when the walk is in nature with our furry gal along with a nice cup of tea for the walk.  You likely have a music playlist of walking music.  I do too.  I have a fast-paced playlist for walking to the lake & a slow paced playlist for walking back home again.  The really cool thing too is that the sky is the limit on the different audio selections that we can add to our music devices.  Yesterday, I downloaded 4 inspirational speakers’ conference sharings & listened to one on a walk.  It was so cool because as I walked, I learned from a “giant” & felt even more gratitude on that walk.  Walking is virtually cost neutral.  We likely have everything that we need already for a basic walk.  Do you know what else is absolutely free?  Endorphins! As an aside, I can still remember one of the first times that I heard the word, “endorphin” as a wee girl & thought that the word meant dolphin.  Too funny.    I have no idea how they work & I personally don’t even need to understand the science behind the power of endorphins.  I find that just knowing that every single time I have taken a good long walk, I have felt energized both physically & cerebrally is enough to propel me to putting on my sneakers & going for that walk.  Some days we may not feel like giving ourselves that walk yet if we go ahead & do it anyways, isn’t it super how it feels?  Perhaps, the activity that brings a smile to your heart is something else.   Maybe your activity more closely relates to dolphins!  Maybe you like to swim like one, fins or no fins!  And you just may even have an idea of the science behind how endorphins work. 

My heart’s hope for you is that you find that activity that lifts you up both physically & cerebrally & that those positive “endorph whats” kick in big time just naturally & beautifully.

Smiles, Saundie :)

Happy Canada Day Canadian Friends & Happy 4th of July this Thursday to our American Friends & Happy Celebrations to all our friends around the World all summer long!  Next Monday's sharing is, "Pardon Me Miss or Mister:  There is an Elephant on the Table!"  :)

Have you noticed that the words ending in “ism” often are ones that we want to steer clear of?  Let’s list a few examples:  materialism, minimalism, egotism, hedonism, individualism (ego-driven) & relativism.  There are many more “ism” words yet let’s focus on just a few for a moment.  About a year ago, I was reading a book by a favourite author, M. Kelly that spoke specifically about:  minimalism, individualism & hedonism & how these ism’s have influenced society in less than positive ways.  For sure, it is awesome to be a beautiful original & not a copy of someone else.  To be an individual is to serve a purpose that no one else can.  When M. Kelly refers to individualism, he is talking more about the pitfall of the “what’s in it for me” mentality.  Some folks may not say these exact words yet the actions declare this almost as if a bubble caption was above their heads in neon colours.  What if we realized that most of us have more than we will ever truly need & think in terms of abundance instead of scarcity.  How would that affect the world around us?  It is a neat picture to imagine.  We can choose to take our thoughts away from “what’s in it for me” to instead, “it is not about me” M. Kelly tells us.  Mr. Kelly describes the prevalence of hedonism permeating society as one of the motto being, “if it feels good, do it.”  Ironically, M. Kelly concludes that that motto often results in a sort of self-imprisonment.  It is kind of like addiction thinking.  It is pursuing what feels good & getting a taste of that.  It does not last, so back we may choose to go again to get another “fix” of feeling good.  Feeling good in & of itself is not a bad thing obviously.  It is in the putting it at the centre as a stand alone philosophy that seems to set some folks in a never ending pursuit of pleasure seeking a little like a hamster on a wheel.  Mr. Kelly suggests instead that we focus in on making choices basically in the realm of doing the next right thing.  He had trade-marked this as “becoming the best version of yourself.”  Okay, how about minimalism?  Yikes, M. Kelly tells us that this is in essence asking the question of “what is the least that I can get away with doing.” 

How does a person feel when they ask the 3 questions:  “what’s in it for me?”, “if it feels good, then why not do it?” & “what’s the least that I can get away with doing?”  We each get to answer that question for ourselves.  My answer is I would feel pretty lousy basing my life on those attitudes personally. 

What is the antidote to that type of thinking & behaving in society?  My belief is that one answer just may be in noticing, appreciating & emulating everyday heroes out there that are doing the opposite of those 3 things in their lives.  Thankfully, I could come up with a myriad of examples of behaviours that Dear Hearts have entered into that carry the antidote.  This week, as an example, there are a couple of times when others have gone ahead & helped out without even being asked to.  That would be the definition of going the extra mile, crocodile!  This year, our family registered for our local JDRF chapter walk to get ready for the June Walk & I made a mistake & registered us as individuals instead of as a team.  I am not a technical wizard by any standard that’s for sure (smiles).  The gal that organizes the walk is sure to have a very full schedule so I did not want to trouble her in correcting my mistake so our team decided to work around my technical “wizardry.”  Today, the organizer of the walk noticed my error & corrected it on her own initiative.  I just think that’s the bee’s knees!  Another example of going the extra mile crocodile was during a recent endocrinologist appointment.  The respect & positive working relationship that I have with my endo is of great value to me.  She has always treated me like I am the “quarterback” & in a profoundly mature & respectful way.  I love that!  That makes a difference.  Recently, when I attended my appointment with my endo., she had all of the usual data all ready to communicate to me.  Additionally though, she had information regarding vitamin deficiencies that I had apparently been unaware of.  She advised me of how these deficiencies would have been impacting my day in day out energy levels.  It had not occurred to me that anything other than being a mom to 3 boys & having diabetes would lead to depleted energy levels.  That something as basic as a vitamin deficiency could be the culprit came as a surprise.  What a relief.  We then had a game plan to replenish the vitamins.  I know it will take some time to rebuild the vitamin stores within my cells, yet I feel so appreciative that my doctor tested for these additional factors & spent the time going over a plan of action with me.  I consider this as going way above & beyond.

My heart’s hope for you is that you encounter countless examples of others going the extra mile crocodile.  And may you too be “the crocodile!”

Smiles, Saundie :)

Happy Long Weekend Fellow Canadians & Happy 4th of July American Friends & Happy Weekend to Friends around the world.  May all the crocodiles going the extra mile be smiling, friendly ones to each & every one :)  Monday's sharing is "Endorph What?"  :)

Wee reminder that during the summer months, new blog sharings (beginning July 1st ) will be once a week on Mondays, smiles, Saundie :)

If you find that some days, the humour that feels exactly right is in the form of a British Comedy group, you are not alone.  If you hear the sound of hooves yet picture two hollow coconuts being clapped together, then we are both laughing together right now.  The Comedy group that I am thinking of specifically is Monty Python.  The humour is timeless.  Perhaps, you too were introduced to this comedy in university.  Truthfully, the first time that I watched one of the sketches, I wondered what was so funny.  It was, I found, an acquired taste.  Our friends at university did warn those of us that were not fans of Monty Python that one day we would think it was hilarious.  They were right!  It took me about 10 years to “get” Monty Python but once I did, it began to provide countless laughs.

You may be asking right about now what in the wide world Monty Python, British comedy in general & diabetes or 365 challenges have in common.  Believe it or not, there is a connection!  The segue is coming up.  If memory serves me, I think it was in “The Holy Grail” that Monty Python did the sketch where the knights were battling & one of the fellows portrayed a knight who got very injured to say the least.  The fellow’s continued response was, “it’s only a flesh wound.”    That is kind of how I got thinking recently about how we sometimes “deal” with either our diabetes or other 365 challenges.  We may look at our challenges day in & day out with the preverbal “stiff upper lip” that has been portrayed time & time again by Monty Python in many of their sketch comedies.

Perhaps you are no “stranger” to the stiff upper lip philosophy for given situations as well.  To share with you, one of the strongest ladies that I know is my Grandma B.  She journeyed over to live in Canada when she met & married Grandpa following WW2.  Taking the “leap across the pond” from England must have been a huge move in more ways than one for her.  Grandma though always has been one of those gals that does what needs to be done & is no fading flower.  She figures out what needs to be done & she just does it.  That could mean raising a large family while being posted in different provinces in Canada as well as in Europe.  Gran is the eldest of 7 sisters in her family & she is the only sibling that left jolly England.  The cool thing is that she is not “your typical granny.”  She is spirited & a hoot to say the least.  Have you gone on a vacation with your Grandma?  It may have been a fairly typical vacation where you were either with your parents & grandparents & camping together or something similar to that.  I had the enjoyment of doing lots of that kind of vacationing with family over the years & it brings a smile to my face.  You will have your own beautiful memories of family times shared during vacations I hope.  One vacation in particular that stands out in a humourous way is the one where my Grandma B & I took a holiday together in Mexico for 2 weeks when I was about 23 years old.  It was shortly after I graduated from UW & had saved up enough loot to go on my first “adult” holiday.  If you are laughing right now that someone would choose his or her grandma to go on a first adult holiday, you don’t quite know my Grandma B!  She has the energy of a collection of 20 year olds, a sense of humour, adventure, and independence that is unstoppable.  That was the vacation that Gran & I would partake, as a lot of folks do, in happy hour beside the pool.  Gran would suggest that I order our drinks & surprise her with something that I thought she had not had before.  One day at happy hour, I decided that she would receive a long island iced tea.  A few sips into mine, I ended up “feeding the plant” since I could tell that I was not made of sturdy enough stock to drink the whole thing.  Grandma, however, merely commented that it was one of the strongest tasting drinks she had ever had but that she would finish it all the same.  Long story short, following that “ice tea”, I heard stories from Grandma about all sorts of adventures she had had.  A large group in fact circled around Gran as she told these stories of her life.  It was a hoot.  Young & older folks at the hotel insisted on sitting at Gran’s table since she was so interesting & such a character.  Many of the stories reminded me of the virtue of strength that I admire about my Gran to this day whether we call it strength or “a British gal’s stiff upper lip!”

Grandma’s way of living of “I will simply find a way & do it” stays with me.  We are blessed to have her in our lives still brewing the tea that would melt steel, sharing stories & jokes & getting things done with independence & strength.

There are those days for all of us when we feel kind of “beaten up” by our 24-7 diabetes or 365 challenge.  Those are the days when sometimes we need a hug yet other days, we may just need someone that we dearly admire that is a person of strength that we can emulate in our own original way.

My heart’s hope for you is that you have a person that you admire that is a person of strength that provides the assurance that you are stronger than you think too!

Smiles, Saundie :)

Enjoy your week & Friday's sharing is "The Extra Mile, Crocodile!"  After this Friday, for the summer months, I will share once a week every Monday :)

Have you ever searched your home up & down in an effort to find a misplaced item?  Sometimes you may have found the article & other times it just may elude you.  Does it drive you up the wall to have scoured your place & simply not be able to find this item?  Perhaps at a later date, this exact thingy reappears.  That is kind of neat when that happens.  Other times though, the item is essentially gone forever.

Are you familiar with the sayings of items seemingly going into either the “Bermuda Triangle or a Black Hole?”  How in the world do certain things end up in what would appear to be another dimension? 

Although I don’t even pretend to be a remotely organized person, I find that over the years there has been some type of order to the chaotic system that I have in place.  Usually, I can find things that I am looking for.  Sometimes it takes a little longer than say a person who has an almost “Dewey decimal “system in place yet the item is often located in fairly short order all the same. 

Oddly enough, the “Bermuda Triangle or Black Hole” that things started disappearing forever into began shortly after I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.  Maybe this is fitting since a part of my health had disappeared potentially forever at this time as well.  Strangely, over the past 5 ½ years, I have permanently misplaced 3 glucose testers.  That is odd.  Those 3 meters have never shown up again.  It’s not a huge deal because at any given time, I always have 4 glucose testers in my possession so there is never a shortage.  Still, it bugged me that these testers seemed to have grown legs & taken off somehow.  It was not so much that I was attached to these gizmos, but rather I had never been one to misplace things in general.  When things begin to bother me more & more, then I tend to institute humour.  Don’t you find that it just helps?  When something is missing now at our place, we usually point towards the culprit of Brodie.

Who’s Brodie?  Brodie is this really cool, outgoing dog that lives up north not far from my Mom & Dad’s cottage.  When our family has the fun of vacationing at Mom & Dad’s cottage in the summer, we have had the neat opportunity to hang out with Brodie over the years.  My parents encouraged Brodie’s morning visits by giving him a daily biscuit.  It did not take him long to routinely climb the stairs to Mom & Dad’s cottage each & every morning in anticipation of a biscuit & a pat on the fur.  The other cool thing was that Brodie over the years has become the resident social convener at everyone’s camp fires.  He hangs out at all the campfires probably for the socializing as well as the smells of the food cooking.  The funny thing is that Brodie is a little like Pokeroo to my husband.  Over the years, my husband & Brodie have never crossed paths.  My husband has made a joke that has stuck with the boys & me.  We have made up this legendary myth that is Brodie according to my husband.  As a result, when something goes missing at our place like left socks, or anything else, we always end up concluding that Brodie must have taken it.  It is good for a laugh.  With my imagination being fairly active, I find it really easy to picture Brodie wearing the socks & carrying my glucose testers or anything else that is missing.

This morning as I woke up with the knowledge that it was soccer Saturday, the Bermuda Triangle & the Black Hole took on a different perspective.  Like many Saturdays, my husband & I needed out of necessity to divide & conquer.  One of our sons was off to Cub camp with my husband & our youngest son needed me to take him to soccer across town.  As I put my feet on the ground first thing in the morning, I had that immediate knowledge that the morning was not going to start off exactly smoothly.  My body gave me those signals right away in the form of instant dizziness & the shakes.  What a hassle I thought to myself as I reached for my glucose tester already knowing that I was in low blood sugar.  If you too are insulin dependent, you probably are going to be relating tremendously to this feeling.  It is difficult to keep diabetes on a schedule or maintain a routine or tight time lines.    Thank goodness that the soccer game was a late morning one I thought optimistically.  The thing this morning that went surging into the black hole never to return again was time.  Hypoglycemia slowed everything down.  Brushing teeth was an exercise in concentration & so forth.  These are just routine activities yet with low blood sugar; they were like rolling a 400 lb weight up a 90 degree incline.  And when we are in low blood sugar, we also realize that we cannot drive for a considerable amount of time even after our blood sugars return to a safe range again.  It takes time to feel like ourselves again.  Even with the late start time to the game, we were still 5 minutes late.  Diabetes stole that time.  It does not bother me for my own sake but rather for the sake of a 6 year old boy who again asked whether we were going to be late.   I felt like it was time that was stolen from our son & delivered to the black hole.  Our wee son is a wise young soul yet I would love to not have to subject him to the time to time instances where we are late because Mommy had hypoglycemia.  I would love to send insulin dependent diabetes into the Bermuda Triangle or Black Hole in the form of us all finally having a cure.  Maybe Brodie is working on the cure now who knows.  Seriously though, regardless of whether time goes into the Triangle or Black Hole every once in a while, the one thing that never ever goes there is the love that I have for my family diabetes or no diabetes.  And maybe the time was not stolen but rather borrowed this morning because once we were at the game & for the rest of the day; we lived with joy every single moment together by choice.  Love is never lost & never enters the Black Hole.  We give that away.

My heart’s hope for you is that Brodie is not wearing your left socks & that the Bermuda Triangles of time due to hypoglycemia are rare.  And may the knowledge that love remains no matter what bring a smile to your heart.

Smiles, Saundie  :)

Enjoy a weekend filled with living all the "small moments" with Dear Hearts in your life...turning it right side up...these are the moments that are the greatest treasures.  Monday's sharing is, "Keeping a Stiff Upper Lip & All That Jazz"...sharing the examples of champions of strength that are in the world :)

Do you own a compass or have you used one before?  Have you used the compass for a learning activity or did your life literally depend upon the instrument being correct?

What I am about to share next will be very basic since I do not profess to be much of a “wizard” or “guru” to say the least when it comes to science.  Here’s what I did learn years ago when I was receiving novice training in the use of the compass when hiking.  The teacher advised us that storing a compass near a strong magnetic field could make the compass useless.  Some of the information that we learn along the way, we retain thankfully.  I have never personally needed a compass since I stick to well trodden paths when walking.

If we have insulin dependent diabetes, we do have a compass that we need to be 100% accurate & our lives literally depend upon this.  The compass that I am referring to is our glucose meters.  My glucose meters don’t tend to be used beyond a year or two so they are usually pretty recent.  You may find too that there are updated meters being released often & that the pharmacist or other medical team member provides these newer gadgets to us frequently.  That is great in my mind because I love having a meter that can offer more options, accuracy & speed.  Frankly, I also like the ones that offer a light on them because let’s face it, at night it is a bonus when we check in the middle of the night & don’t have to necessarily turn on an overhead light to get a glucose reading.  As an aside, it is funny to hear the number of fellow “pumpers” out there that do something that I do too at night for glucose tests & that is to use our insulin pump light as a light to see our glucose test result when the glucose meter does not have a light on it!  We are kind of a group of folks who could be pictured in a Cat in the Hat story balancing successfully many gadgets at once.

Glucose testing may be an art or a science or both.  If you have had diabetes for a while now too, you may find that you have become pretty proficient at testing.  I do 10-12 glucose tests a day so in humble truth, I got pretty good at testing pretty fast.  I am not sharing that information to brag about my testing abilities but rather as a basis for what I am about to share with you next.

What if somehow our compass or something within our compass fails or becomes metaphorically demagnetized when we have type 1 or insulin dependent diabetes?  Would you agree that to a very large degree our health & even our lives are tied to this hand held device called the glucose meter & that it is our compass for diabetes care?  What if the readings or results being provided by the meter were inaccurate?  These results after all are the basis of our decision making when it comes to insulin.  When our meters tell us that we are above our target range, we do an insulin correction & when our numbers are in an area of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), we eat the appropriate amount of fast acting & slow acting sugar.  What if the reading on the glucose meter is incorrect though?  Here’s an instance of what we don’t know having a detrimental effect.  For 2 ½ months, I have felt like I have been riding a wild roller coaster ride almost every single day.  That is strange.  There are times when each of us certainly ride that involuntary roller coaster when it comes to blood sugars & the parallel physical & emotional feelings that entails.  When I go through unstable blood sugars for an extended period of time (a few days or more), I do what most folks with diabetes do & that is ask myself questions.  The questions are in an effort to figure out what is causing the blood sugar fluctuations so that I can attempt to put a stop to that.  Unfortunately, it took me a very long time to figure it out however I finally after over 2 months was able to identify the problem.  The problem was not exactly with my “compass” or glucose meter.  It was however attached to the meter!  At the end of March, I purchased 10 boxes of glucose testing cartridges to be all set for the following 3 months of glucose testing.  That is usually pretty much a non-event.  I did notice that my testing cartridges were behaving erratically.  I was getting an error message from all 4 of my glucose meters 3 out of 4 tests.  Then finally on each 4^th test I received a glucose result.  I trusted the result when I finally got one.  It was frustrating & I kept thinking that the next box would be better.  Strips or cartridges go through a rigorous quality control process no doubt.  Still though, sometimes, things can slip through the cracks perhaps. 

After 5-6 boxes of receiving the same problematic process of testing, I finally called the test strip company.  They likely have a list of generic questions that they ask people in these situations because one of the very first questions they asked me was about my testing proficiency.  I explained that I have been doing glucose tests 10 times a day for 5 ½ years without difficulty.  Not surprising, when the service representative asked me to check the lot numbers, all of the boxes had the same lot numbers on them.  I explained the situation & suggested to the representative after we had gone through the series of usual questions that the lot is defective.  The representative was cautious not to state at any time that the cartridges could be defective but rather replaced the boxes that I had used that had provided difficulty.  A few days prior to the call, I had begun the process of double testing my glucose results.  I had 1 glucose tester that used different strips that I had on hand vs the cartridges.  Sure enough, the results that the back-up meter gave me were significantly lower test results then what I believe were defective cartridge tester results.  That convinced me that not only was there a strong likelihood that the test cartridges from the 10 boxes  were defective, but also that pointed me in the answer finally as to why I had been feeling so incredibly unwell for 2 ½ months!  It was scary to think that a 3.6 result on the possibly defective cartridges could have been in the 2 range instead!  The point is that we make our decisions based upon the results that we receive from our glucose meters.  We rely on accuracy.  Our lives can depend literally upon the accuracy.  There is a real blessing in how Mother Nature works even when it comes to diabetes.  We often get signals like the shakes, sweats, dizziness, slurring of speech, numb tongue, unbelievable hunger & others that guide us in determining whether we are in low blood sugar.  I had those signals thankfully even when my cartridge results were telling me that I was at 5.0 at times.  I trusted that I needed to take a fast acting sugar kind of like a gut feeling or perhaps a prompt from my guardian angel.  Thank goodness for that.  Having a back up meter & different cartridges or strips from another lot number may seem excessive yet in my case, I was profoundly thankful that I had gone to that degree of caution.  Technology is amazing.  We are still the “brains” behind our diabetes though.  If something does not seem quite right, questioning the situation can make a huge difference.

My heart’s hope for you is that you never experience a problem with either your “compass”/glucose meter or anything attached to it yet if you feel that something is not quite right, please listen to your gut belief & double check.  There is only 1 original you out there after all!

Smiles, Saundie :)

Hope you have a "steady as she goes" kind of week & Friday's sharing is "Bermuda Triangles & Black Holes "D" Style"  :)

Are you a parent that has diabetes who is raising a family?  Perhaps your family is grown?  Or maybe you are the parent of a child or adult that has diabetes?  It could be that you are a young adult who has diabetes.  No matter which question best fits our situation, do you find that  sometimes you think about how others view your situation as you live with diabetes 24-7?  Do you think about those closest to you & try to look at diabetes through their eyes?  Some of us will answer that we don’t knowingly think about how our Dear Hearts perceive our lives with diabetes. 

Several years ago, my Dad invited me along to a Martina McBride concert.  It was a blast.  My Dad as I have shared before is not only a bundle of laughs, but also is my first picture of what an everyday hero is all about.  He has a heart for people & has from my first memory been someone in the community that goes the extra mile for others.  He makes a difference in lives & seeing that in action impacted me forever in a beautiful way.  Do you have an eclectic taste in music?  I do!  My range of music is pretty varied & depending upon my mood or task at hand, I enjoy all the variety of the music on my iPod at different times.  Having been given a sentimental heart, I sure enjoy in particular, Martina McBride’s songs, “Blessed” & “In My Daughters’ Eyes.”  It did not take me very long at all to modify the words to the “In My Daughters’ Eyes” to “In My Sons’ Eyes” since we are blessed to have these 3 adventurous boys to love as sons. 

In one form or another, from the very first day that I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, I have considered how this impacts our sons.  Each time, I thought of type 1 being in their lives because their mom had it, I was sad, frustrated & simply did not want this to be a part of their lives.  More than not wanting type 1 for myself, I really, really did not want our sons to have to be subjected to the challenges that go along with having this diagnosis.  None of us are responsible for having been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes yet I have over the years felt a need to as much as possible shelter our sons from the “bad days” with diabetes.    Kids are pretty smart & intuitive though so it did not take our sons long to see when it was a more challenging day & “bust” me on trying to keep going like there was nothing wrong.  That was a good thing because truth is always the best choice whether it comes to diabetes or life choices I personally believe.  By that I mean truth with love.  Sharing that it is a challenging day & then going on to thank our Dear Hearts for the loving actions that they have given that have made a difference is an example of that.  Long story cut short, I really only had seen the downside of looking at diabetes through our sons’ eyes up until yesterday.

We may believe at times that type 1 diabetes or 365 challenges always adversely affect our loved ones or in my case, our sons.  Yesterday, our family, like thousands of other families living with type 1 diabetes, participated in the JDRF Walk for the Cure.  It is a day where there is a kindred spirit, a knowing smile, understanding & limitless hope for the families walking.  The treatments for type 1 diabetes over the years have improved so much that I know that I am profoundly thankful.  My heart knows that there will be constant improvements to treatments for type 1 & that means that we are offered more choices & more hope & that I believe is a gift.  The ladies that run our JDRF Chapter are champions!  The day that they arranged was absolutely a ball for families.  There were photo booths with an opportunity to dress up in zany clothes as a family& just be kids & face painting & a bbq & rock wall & oodles of bouncy houses to name a few activities.  The walk itself is along a beautiful pathway through the woods & along the river.  Truthfully, I have not been feeling well for some time now & I was disappointed when I woke up yesterday morning without my usual level of energy on “Walk Day.”  It is a day that I look forward to with all my heart every single year.  Still, though, it was a day that I was not about to miss low energy or anything else!  My family knew that I was not feeling my best yesterday.  And Dear Hearts that they are, they declared first thing in the morning that they would walk for me & that I could stay home & rest.  I would not entertain that idea for a minute on “Walk Day.”  My heart sure appreciated the offer that they genuinely made all the same. 

After our family completed the walk part of the morning, our sons enjoyed the bbq & playing with all of the other kids.  They had a blast & my heart was filled with gratitude to see them having so much fun.  The very best part was the point when we were walking back to our vehicle after the day’s activities.  All 3 of our sons thanked me enthusiastically for inviting them to such a great, fun day.  It was at that moment that it finally hit me that just like so many things in life, viewing things as all good or all bad is perhaps overly black & white.  Believe me, I am not suggesting that diabetes or a 365 challenge in it & of itself is good.  The life lessons though can be the good that comes out of a struggle.  For our sons, I have come to realize that they have a compassion & empathy for others in the world that have challenges.  They have hearts of champions in offering to help others & I have seen this first hand.  They “see” others & are perhaps more aware that sometimes others need a helping hand or an encouraging word.  Those are a couple of things that have been the blessings of them living with a mom who has diabetes.  They also see that determination is a renewable resource & that just because at any given time we may not feel like doing something that if it is something that is valuable & meaningful that we do it anyhow.  I hope too that they see a mom who is not a victim but rather a person who knows that she has choices most especially over my attitude towards diabetes & how it is merely a part of our lives but never is allowed to take over our lives.  The other thing too is that we never know whether somewhere, someday on our boys’ journeys, they may be in a unique position to help someone else because they know what they know about diabetes.  They may be the helper of someone’s face that I may never know.  They have caring hearts so I sure can picture that.

Here’s the thing & that is that when I woke up yesterday, my thoughts were of thankfulness to our sons for going on the walk with me.  What I perceived was these boys being asked to wear our silly sock monkey family walk shirts & being somewhat dragged along to a “Mommy” related event.  It turns out to my heart’s delight that I got it all wrong.  The boys actually got up themselves yesterday morning & voluntarily put on the silly sock monkey shirts with big smiles & said that they wanted to walk for Mommy & then the younger boys added that they would also bounce in the bouncy houses as high as they could too.  It turns out that they wanted to go for the family walk & then play with the other children at the party.  Through their eyes, we had a great family day together & they had just plain, old-fashioned kid fun.  They saw only the brightness of the day & as they were about to drift off to sleep, the last sentences of the day were, “we had fun today, Mom, how about you?”

My heart’s hope for you is that when or if you look at either diabetes or 365 challenges through the eyes of those that love you that you see the challenges transformed into a bond of hope, love & light in the form of a stronger relationship with Dear Hearts!

Smiles, Saundie :)

Happy Father's Day Weekend Everyone & May Our Dads be honoured this weekend & always.  Monday's sharing is entitled, "The Demagnification of Doom"  :)

Do you ever think about your 5 senses?  Most of the time we may agree that our senses are taken for granted.  As a humorous aside, perhaps we could add a 6^th sense of common sense to that list.  There is a quote out there that says that “common sense is uncommon.”  We each get to decide for ourselves how true that statement is.  Getting back to our original 5 senses usually given to us as a gift at birth may remind us that we have something amazing to put into use each & every day.  Are there scents that remind you of a favourite memory?  I will share with you that sometimes I bake homemade butter tarts to give to someone else yet this gift of the heart comes back at the same time every time in the form of a fond memory.  The fond memory is that in the smell of the tarts cooking, it brings back being in the kitchen with my grandma when I was a wee girl while she made butter tarts.  What an extraordinary baker she was.  Even with several of her recipes, there is no duplicating gran’s baking.  My heart believes that we each stir in our own love to homemade goodies so of course baking is going to taste different.  I like to bake like grandma did in many ways.  I love that feeling of not measuring out the ingredients for the most part & giving myself the creative license to modify ingredients each time.  And it was so neat to listen to grandma’s stories & just chat while we baked together.  Once the goodies were just cool enough to enjoy, we would always agree that it was time to put on the kettle & have tea & our creation of the day.  Afterwards we would do a craft.  Grandma had that natural ability to craft treasures out of just about anything that was already on hand.  We made stuffed frogs out of left over material & stuffed it full of beans & she sewed them up.  Also, we made trees out of candies & dolls out of yarn & empty hand soap containers.  Once we made a foot stool together out of empty large tomato cans & then she covered them with material & sewed it all together.  Our craft time was always accompanied by a cup of tea & laughter that to this day I remember vividly.  Through the time with grandma, all 5 senses were fully celebrated within each activity.

If you also have either type 1 diabetes or another 365 challenge, you may from time to time celebrate your 5 senses too.  I know that ever since I was diagnosed 5 ½ years ago, I have appreciated my 5 senses so much more.  Take for instance smell & taste.  If I am anticipating a baking spree in my kitchen, I look forward to the scent of the baking & the taste of the creation.  Just a wee sample is enjoyed all the more & savored like never before.  Just a few bites are all it takes to bring appreciation to the forefront when I make one of Grandma’s recipes.  I think I taste food all the more since being diagnosed.  When I have a treat, I enjoy it to the fullest.  How about tactile senses?  Since diagnosis, I have a new appreciation of playing with our sons outside in nature.  We get to explore together the different textures of Mother Nature’s wonders.  And listening to the boys as they laugh & run is the greatest music I will ever experience.

How about our peepers?  The list would be too lengthy to express appreciation for our sight.  We get to enjoy the faces that we love & the wonderment of nature & art & reading & watching our favourite shows & being able to drive to a friend’s place or other special places.  Sight is another great gift in the form of one of the senses.  If we have diabetes, we are extremely mindful that it is in our best interests to do everything that we can to enjoy eye health.  Once a year, I attend my appointment with our optometrist.  He is absolutely fantastic.  What a professional & he has a quiet reassurance & a thoroughness that I feel thankful for.  It is always a laugh to step into his office & see the picture of his graduating class on the wall.  Most graduating photos would include a group of well groomed folks dressed in the gowns & caps looking distinguished.  My optometrist’s graduating class however had a wee sense of humour in that they opted instead to have a class picture just of 1 eyeball of each graduate!  My opinion is surely a wee bit biased as well yet I admit that I feel even more confidence knowing that this doctor graduated from UW school of optometry!  Please don’t get me wrong, I know that there are many universities that have amazing optometry programs as well.  I feel biased though because I went to UW too although certainly not within the optometry field.

Yesterday, I did what I usually do at my eye health appointment.  I waited for that word from the optometrist of assurance that my eye health is unaffected by diabetes.  Yay, the word came in spades.  The bonus was that I also did not even need to get new reading glasses.  Psychologically, I had somehow convinced myself that my eyesight as far as reading goes had deteriorated.  Respectfully, the optometrist put those thoughts at bay & I realized that I was fortunate indeed in all the aspects of the yearly eye health check up.  It is cool looking at the pictures of the inside of my eyes & then having the doctor bring up the photos from 2008 & seeing a perfect match!  What a wonderful relief. 

My heart’s hope for you is that you are taking excellent care of your eye health too.  No one has to keep an “eye on” us because we know that we will look after our own appointments to try our best to prevent eye deterioration from diabetes.  We will do everything within our power to guard a sense that is so treasured & impacts so much of our day & our lives.  Afterall, “jeepers creepers, we gotta love our peepers!”

Smiles,  Saundie :)

May you "look" forward to a week of enjoying all your senses & speaking of eyes yet again, this Friday's sharing is entitled, "Through My Sons' Eyes!" :)