Meet-ups.

There's something delightful and familiar about meeting someone else with T1 for the first time.  On Saturday, I had the pleasure of meeting up with fellow T1 and erstwhile diabetes blogger Kay while she was in town for the football game.  My husband and I joined her and her friend downtown, as they were on their way to pick up their tickets. 

Is it just me, or are people with diabetes some of the most friendly and awesome people on earth? 

Kay and Kim.

We walked around UNL's campus for about an hour or so, and never ran out of things to talk about.  Kay brought up, and I totally agreed, that there always seems to be a sense of familiarity among T1's; even if you've just met, you feel as though you've known the person for some time.  There seems to be an undercurrent of understanding among us.

We talked about her insulin pump scare the day before; how others are never as excited about the straight line on our Dexcom graphs as we are; what our favorite flavor of glucose tabs are (fruit punch for me; grape for Kay); her meet-up with Lorraine in NY, and my meet-up with the TCOYD Des Moines folks in September.

We also discussed another point.  As I get to know more and more PWDs, I find that there is a segment of the population who seem to have it all "figured out" - or, at least they sure make it seem that way.  They do the same thing every day, and get the same results.  I asked Kay, "Is it like that for you?  Because most of the time, I feel like the numbers have the lead, and I'm just chasing after them, not the other way around.  I mean, everything works sometimes, but it's definitely not all the time."  It's as if my whole regimen has to be rehauled every few months, because what worked before just doesn't anymore.  While I am so happy for others who have an A1C significantly lower than mine, or who don't experience the fluctuations I do, some part of me feels a little bit left out.  Knowing that others deal with this too gives me some encouragement and motivation to keep at it.

It was a pleasure meeting you, Kay!  (And Go Big Red!)