Finish Strong Even in the Middle

Is everyday a big day?  Perhaps it depends upon what we define “big” as.  My perception of a big day changes based on how my health is cooperating.  When I feel especially well I nearly always fall prey to the over the top list of things that I am positive I am going to accomplish that day.  I swear that when I feel well I get an exponentially high amount of stuff done & that feels pretty great.  There seems to be a mechanism within me that also believes on some level that I can make up for lost time…you know lost time after recovering from whatever health issue has slowed me down prior to the feeling on top of the world day.  This usually results in the hamster on the wheel syndrome of overdoing things & then slowing down a couple of days later.  Yesterday I woke up & felt like the energizer bunny on steroids.  “Great” I thought to myself out loud with a bit of a “go me” kind of attitude.  I believe in celebrating wins in life big, medium & small.  I told myself that I did not even need to pour my usual quota of caffeine down my throat to get out the door yesterday morning.  Instead I just had my really gross drink that I start out with every morning & headed out the door to my big day.  As an aside the gross drink is a mixture of half a squeezed lemon with 2 tablespoons of cider vinegar in hot water.  It was a drink that was recommended to me a couple of years ago & I just kind of chug it down & then look forward usually to having a cup of strong black coffee as a reward afterwards.  I know the person that recommended the lemon drink would not approve of my cancellation policy of drinking coffee right after the healthy drink.  That is how rascals deal with the gross drink though.  I figure I have balanced things out though because I am not giving up coffee…ever.  The more birthdays I celebrate, the more I celebrate the marvel of coffee & the stronger I like my coffee.  Okay, back to yesterday.  Powered by rascal will alone I decided that before breakfast I would get several things done.  There should be ominous music playing in my brain when I tell myself to delay breakfast.  I have a 100% track record of going into low blood sugar if I delay my breakfast for more than 90 minutes (unless I have switched onto a different basal rate, etc).  That takes planning though & sometimes I just plain like to be spontaneous.  Yesterday was one of those type of mornings.  At 7:45am I was off to the farmer’s market for the first time this season with the excitement of a kid in a candy store.  Fresh veggies & fruit from Ontario are absolutely a treat & strawberries are in season & they are indescribably delicious during this 2 week window of time.  In the coming weeks I will be like a coyote with a taste for chicken awaiting fresh carrots.  My nickname is “bunny rabbit” & humorously I guess I earned that name by my over the top energy levels most days & my unwavering love of carrots.  It was lovely choosing the fresh veggies & fruit & speaking directly to the farmer that grew the food.  He noticed my British flag change purse & asked me if I was from the UK as he was originally from there.  “No”, I replied, “but my gran was.”  The next thing I knew the gentleman was describing his journey across the pond to Canada several decades ago & I happily shared my Gran’s story of making her way to Canada as a war bride.  The grocery store was next because yikes I am a mom to 3 growing boys & man can they eat!  At 8:55am I finished up that shopping & was in the process of checking out the groceries.  I handed the check out gal some cash & told her I would pay $30 cash & the balance would be interact.  She looked at me like I was not the sharpest knife in the drawer.  I realized that look was because I had handed her $60.  I jokingly (although it was the truth anyway) said that I am not too bright before I have had my morning coffee.  In what was left of my logical brain at the time I knew without a doubt that I was in low blood sugar.  I am sure my IQ drops to an almost indictable level temporarily the lower my blood sugar goes.  “Well, this is going to slow me down” I thought to myself for the countless time.  Because I am human I realized that I was out of fast acting sugars in my purse which is a mistake I try to avoid obviously for safety reasons.  “Rats” I thought & frankly said out loud.  Seeing the glass as a pretty full situation I thought to myself that this was the perfect excuse to have breakfast & get my IQ back up again before returning safely home.  It was a sign (ha ha) that there was a Starbucks right next to the grocery store so I headed in there.  It was a deviation from my regular healthy breakfast but it was delicious & got my blood sugars up in record time…Starbucks for medicinal purposes then.  I added a double espresso & felt like I could take on the world again.  As a sidebar, I have had the same Starbucks gift card for about 6 years & I just reload it.  My mom gave it to me & it is has what I think is the coolest picture on it.  It is of Sir Paul McCartney & I have had a ton of compliments on it when I use it.  I always say one of two things:  “He always stays cool” or “Sir Paul is treating today.”  I am glad that I had the good sense to keep this card because it never fails to make me smile when I bring it out for a coffee treat. 

Somewhere along the way my afternoon got derailed yesterday.  The list continued with some extra things to do including washing my “Arctic Hare” aka my new white vehicle…white because well…oops.  I can see it will be a labour of love keeping it white however it is good exercise washing it & it will hopefully teach our sons about taking care of things.  Dinner was all planned out & I had even told my husband what that was going to be.  Oops.  Intending to do things but not accomplishing them is just a part of life.  I realized that I did not have any of the standard things needed to actually wash a vehicle because well I did not bother to wash our previous 17 year old dogmobile.  I figured it would not take long to find the stuff for washing the vehicle though.  Have you been to Home Depot?  That is a rhetorical question.  I had a headache after attempting for 45 minutes to find the stuff & then like a rascal was hit with the fact that I had run out of time & had to pick up one of our sons so I abandoned that store & that mission.  Our youngest son was happy about that not working out since he loves to be involved in anything that includes exercise or the outdoors.  We decided we would head over to Canadian Tire together & quickly pick up the washing stuff & then get the job done & dinner ready & then be off to his baseball game.  Everything takes longer it seems then estimated right?  Once we found the huge isle for car washing we had to study the zillion different things to decide what we actually needed.  Alex, our youngest son is a yoda of a fellow with maturity & a quiet sense of humor.  “Don’t get distracted by shiny stuff Mom” he said knowing that we only needed some basic stuff but that I could easily get carried away.  A kind elderly gentleman approached Alex & I in the isle & asked if we needed any help.  Naturally I thought he worked there but it turned out that he was just a nice person that noticed that I might be outside my area of expertise.  He & Alex quickly agreed that many things in the isle were a “rip off” & not needed.  He recommended a shampoo & a few other things & then was on his way.  We had a super nice gal at the check out that we had a nice chat with as well.  As a funny aside, although Alex insisted that several of the cleaning things were completely unnecessary he did convince me that a Toronto Blue Jays car flag would serve a multitude of purposes so it made its way into the cart.  The Blue Jays rock!  On the way home I got the reality check via the clock that not only did we no longer have time to wash the car but I did not even have time to make dinner before heading out to Alex’s baseball game.  Oops.  Although we had gone into Canadian Tire for car washing stuff we had spent an equal amount of time in the sports section courtesy of Alex.  We quickly grabbed a couple of pizzas for dinner for all the boys. 

My son Alex is on a baseball team that has struggled up until last night.  Wow wee though last night it all came together for them as a team defensively & offensively.  There were even 3 home runs for the first time.  The boys were floating on air by the end of the game & you could not have measured their huge smiles.  Two additional sweet surprises happened during the game as well.  I arrived in my haphazard way without a soccer chair but one of the other parents had brought & set up an extra chair & immediately offered it to me.  It is the little things…it was even in the shade…sweet!  Unexpectedly minutes later my husband showed up with a nice cup of tea for me…sweet again. 

Diabetes can provide oodles of road bumps during our days.  Can we smooth out the bumps?  Sometimes we begin the day strong, hit a bump or many.  We are indescribably tenacious while living with type 1.  We have to be.  What is the alternative anyway?  We can start strong, or get strong in the middle of the day or finish strong at the end of the day or a myriad of permutations & combinations. 

My heart’s hope for you is that you give yourself a fist bump frequently & celebrate your strong beginnings, middles & ends.  Enjoy all the wins big & small.  Exercise your ear to ear grin just like those 12 grass stained jubilant boys last night on Alex’s baseball team!

Smiles, Saundie :)

Have a sweet week & as always be gentle with yourself!  Next Monday’s story is somewhere in the creative spider webbed ether of my mind.