Two years ago Arden was diagnosed with type I diabetes while we were on a family vacation in Virginia Beach, VA.  Approximately ten thousand shots ago our lives were changed in a way that I still haven’t found the words to properly convey.  

Through happenstance our family invited us to another Virginia Beach vacation this year.  So I am writing to you tonight from there.  When we drove into town today I got filled up and had to stop myself from reliving those moments from 2006 that now define our lives.  As we drove down the same street that I raced down franticly searching for a twenty-four hour pharmacy that night, I was overwhelmed by how far we’ve come, how far we still have to go but mostly by how sad I still am that Arden has this disease.  I guess that is never going to go away. 

A few hours ago, just as we did the last time we were here, we went food shopping to supply the house.  I remembered going into that store two years ago so excited about the week to come.  Today I had to fight off a piercing feeling of dread and impending doom.  I couldn’t help feeling like something horrible was going to happen tomorrow.  I don’t think that it’s a very good idea to be here today.

Tomorrow I think I’ll go with Arden to the last place in the world that I remember her not being diabetic.  Kelly and I took her for a walk at a nature reserve a few hours before we figured out that she was sick.  We watched the sun set together...  It’s the image I picture in my head every time I say, “Arden’s Day”.