Reconnecting

This week is a very diabetes-centric one.  Monday we attended the JDRF/Hodia family fun night.  I got to catch up with some friends from the Sail Away in Support fundraiser and we all had fun riding the bumper boats and playing in the arcade.  The kids came home with their usual handful of prizes bought with tickets.  And of course we always love to support JDRF.

 Tuesday was the JDRF Walk Awards luncheon.  I was glad to have the Pretty Lady in My Life by my side as we got to see the awesome job done by all the walk teams to raise a huge amount of money for JDRF.  While I got a bit of a late start and didn't reach my fundraising goal, I was still happy to receive a golden sneaker for my efforts (even if I felt like a giant being the only one on stage over 4 ft), which wouldn't have been possible if not for some of the great people I work with who volunteered their time and joined Team Dia-beat It.  Attending the awards re-upped my motivation to get into next year and really get our team going, hopefully to the tune of at least Gold Level and with sweet Michael Jackson team shirts.  I'm thinking the King of Pop and "No one deserves diabetes, so let's beat it!"  And to finish off the week I will be attending a diabetes retreat, or DTreat, starting Friday and ending Sunday.  I have been having mixed feelings about this.  I am very excited to be able to meet other Type 1's as I feel increasingly isolated as I continue to go through life with T1D.  At the same time, I am at the upper end of the 18-30 yr old range and most of the attendees are former Camp Hodia campers who already have that in common.  Add to that the fact that I am very much an introvert and conversing with new people and large groups does not come easy to me and you start to see why I am a little apprehensive about this.  Nonetheless I am still very excited to get to meet others who understand what a living with T1D means, have more experience with it, and who I think can help me navigate some of the things coming up, like (hopefully) transitioning to a pump.  If all goes well I will come out of this weekend with some newly formed friendships.  All in all it should be a great week.  I find myself wishing for a better organized group for Adults with T1D in my area lately, but in the meantime I am so thankful for the organizations that do exist.  It seems like just when I need a little boost, they have something coming along to give it to me.