What I Didn't Know: 2013 Edition

I don't know if this has ever happened to you, I suspect that it has... I thought that I stretched myself too thin.

I've spent the last few months thinking that I needed a break, but recently I realized that what I really needed was to keep going. I heard someone say recently that you know when things are going good for you when you don't have any time to enjoy them. That when you have time to sit back and smell the roses... the roses are just about to die, and if you let that happen... they don't ever bloom the same way again. That sentiment pretty much sums up my year and it's message to keep planting roses makes a lot of sense to me.

I've spent these last few weeks trying to have it all, I wanted the roses and the time to smell them, but you know what, it doesn't work like that. The joy comes from planting, tending and nurturing the roses. The energy to do it all again, that comes from watching others enjoy them. 

It took me a while to figure out how to make my new life fit into our day, but I I have it now, I know what to do. Before April of 2012 I had a system and it worked, but when I decided to write my book I added a lot of new moving parts that at times were overwhelming. All of the rest of my life still existed, but suddenly I had a lot more responsibilities and I wasn't always able to balance them with my existing life. Now that I've lived through all of this, I have a much better plan for moving forward - a new attitude of sorts. It's time to pull a few things off of the back burner and get them front and center where they belong and time to see what else lies ahead of me. For the first time since I started writing Life Is Short, I understand how to do that. I understand that I have to stop smelling the roses so I can plant more, so that others can smell them... because that's who I am. 

First up, Arden's Day Gives. I admit it, I couldn't simultaneously learn about starting a charity and write a book for the first time. I tried, but the burden of that froze me last year and so I pushed the charity's 501c3 paper work to the side. Know that my decision to do that broke my heart, but moreover, I was embarrassed to not have the ability to accomplish both. What hurt most was that I could tell it was an obtainable goal that I lacked the knowledge to obtain. 

Arden's Day Gives is my start up charity whose goal is to help offset the cost of insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors for children who want but can not afford them. It's in it's infancy, incorporated with the state but not yet a 501c3. This Friday night a few of my friends are holding a Beef and Beer to help support their softball team and ADG. So, if you are in the Bucks County PA area and want to help some aging guys play competitive softball while helping to get Arden's Day Gives off the ground, I have the beef and beer for you!

Moving forward for the rest of 2013 and beyond... Arden's Day Gives is getting going, I'm writing another book and rededicating myself to getting the laundry folded on the day that it comes out of the dryer. Armed with the benefit of this past year's wonderful life lessons, it's time to put what I've learned to good use. I can't wait to see what happens next and I can't wait to find out what else I don't know - so I can keep growing.

Diabetes Blog Week, Day 2

Diabetes Blog Week, Day 2, "One Great Thing"

 Today's Topic:

Living with diabetes (or caring for someone who lives with it) sure does take a lot of work, and it’s easy to be hard on ourselves if we aren’t “perfect”.  But today it’s time to give ourselves some much deserved credit.  Tell us about just one diabetes thing you (or your loved one) does spectacularly!  Fasting blood sugar checks, oral meds sorted and ready, something always on hand to treat a low, or anything that you do for diabetes.  Nothing is too big or too small to celebrate doing well! 

I am going to make myself uncomfortable and do two things that I abhor. The first and admittedly easier part, I'm going to write to the prompt. Second and much more difficult, I'm going to unapologetically say nice stuff about myself.

• I think I do a good job of sharing what it's like to be a parent of a child with type I diabetes. I see being this transparent as a public service and it makes me proud that Arden's Day helps people.
   
• I can basal away a high or low BG in a way that makes me feel like dropping confetti on my own head.
   
• Arden's A1c is in range.
   
• It still remains to be seen but I truly believe that the greatest thing that I will ever do (as it relates to diabetes and excluding caring for Arden) is to imagine 'Arden's Day Gives'

Thanks to @alsophil for our logo!

The interactions that I've had on this blog led me to believe that while there are many obstacles that we all face while living with type I diabetes, one of them bothered me more then the rest. I was startled by the number of voices that I heard online that want devices to help them manage their type I but can not, even though a great many of them are insured, afford to use them. After much soul searching and some timely input from others I came to the conclusion that I could be the one to effect this issue and we set about forming a non profit to do just that. 

On April 17, 2012 'Arden's Day Gives" was granted it's incorporation status from the state of New Jersey and we are currently in the process of applying for charitable status from the federal government. The process is a long and complicated one but we are making our way through it quite nicely. 

I hope Arden's Day Gives can serve as an example to you that your thoughts are only one physical action away from being tangible. I took a word on a digital page and turned it into an entity for good. Though ADG is still just a FaceBook page that's under construction, a twitter account and a URL that doesn't point anywhere yet, it is closer to helping the children in our community that need it most then it may appear. 

So far what I've done amounts to not much more then a raised seal on some paperwork but that's just the part that you can touch. In the feeling world, in the place where hope lives, it's already "great"!

I hope that you can follow Arden's Day Gives at one or all of the ways that I provided above. Very soon we will launch a website at www.ardensdaygives.org, be announcing our board members and with some luck be in possession of a 501(c)3 distinction by the end of the year. After that we will seek support from where ever we can find it and then go about doing the work of getting insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors to the children that want and need them.

http://twitter.com/ArdensDayGives

http://www.facebook.com/ArdensDayGives