Diabetes Awareness Month: D-Quote #2

November is Diabetes Awareness Month! I am pleased to present you with D-Quote, a Diabetes Light initiative that gives voice to our community and helps provide awareness for this challenging invisible condition. Thank you for reading. I encourage you to pass these meaningful stories along to increase our advocacy and outreach efforts. All advocacy moves us closer to a cure. Thanks for your help! 🙂

**A special thanks to our community members for taking the time to write and bravely share their stories and experiences to provide diabetes awareness.

There are so many words I could write in describing what it’s like to live with Type I diabetes and I’m sure many of you are already acquainted with the highs, the lows, the finger sticks, the infusion sets, the needles and, of course, the list goes on and on.  Earlier this year I read a book and the author introduced me to a new word–Eucharisteo–ponder her description of this word:

“Eucharisteo, thanksgiving, envelopes the Greek word for grace, charis. But it also holds its derivative, the Greek word chara, meaning “joy.” Charis. Grace. Eucharisteo. Thanksgiving. Chara. Joy.” (Ann Voskamp)

I think of how empty my life would be if I did not have a supportive husband to assist me in living with the issues that this disease presents.  Larry is a source of GRACE that God has given to me.  With him, I can pour out the frustrations of T1D.

The T1D community is an enormous source of JOY in my life.  There are so many of you that make me smile whether it’s posting a picture of a meter bag full of used test strips or a post that contains a meaningful quote that puts a bit of “oomph” in my day.

And, finally–THANKSGIVING–a word that the month of November turns our hearts and minds to each year.  I’m so very thankful for my physician, who supports me even when my A1c is not what I want it to be, who listens to me and shows genuine understanding because she also lives with a chronic illness.  I’m thankful for insulin and, yes, all the insulin supplies that go along with my substitute pancreas–my insulin pump.  It’s these items that on most days help me sometimes forget–even if for a few hours– that I live with T1D.

Eucharisteo . . . it’s such a beautiful word and such a beautiful way to live life, even with T1D.