The A-List: The Basics

The A-List is my way of sharing an ongoing list of what's up in the life of a regular gal.  I won't pretend to be perfect or bore you with blood sugar trends but what I will do is invite you in to see what's going on behind the curtain.  I almost feel as if I should begin by saying something like “View Discretion is Advised” or “Do Not Try This at Home.”  However, in many ways, whenever I see stuff like that on TV, I usually pay more attention.  So I guess just by preempting my entry like that, all those crazy kids in cyber space are going to clamoring over my shenanigans.  And even if you don’t want to admit it, you probably will be too.

Here’s the background.  I have been dealing with this diabetes thing since I was eight.  In many ways it has kind of made me more awesome (my sisters hated that). I grew up at a time when you checked your blood sugar like three times a day (and admittedly to this day old habits die hard).  My mom and dad sent me to school with a juice box and basically said, “Good luck, pal...see you tonight.”  I think they deserve a shout-out for that because they never seemed to let it bother them.

I started wearing a pump my freshman year of college.  That was a bad idea all around.  Being the free spirit that I was, it was awkward to have a pager-like thing hanging on your belt.  And even after all these years, you’d think the pump companies would develop something a little more discreet.  What college kid wears a belt, anyway?  I felt like the Mayor of Dork City, population: me.   Pump companies might want to consider pump holders for college outfits—tub tops, tight jeans, short skirts.  You know the clothes…the kind you wish you could still wear.  At any rate, my pumping in college was short-lived, a month...tops.

So fast forward to today—I’m on a pump again and just as irritated by it as I was back then.  And although my outfits are more conservative, I still have the same issues.  In fact, just recently, I ordered this pump holder that fits around your thigh.  I wore it under a skirt and I looked like a dude.  I guess I can see something like that working if you are a stilt-walker at a circus because only then do you wear those huge baggy pants.  At any rate, pump placement to this day is irritating—something I will probably talk about many, many times throughout the life of this blog.

I wear flip flops nearly everyday.  I know that there are doctors out there that think flip flops and diabetic feet don't mix but my opinion on that is: deal with it.  I actually feel as if flip flops are the perfect shoe so in case I ever get a cut on my foot, at least I will see it fester instead of die a slow death under a pair of stinky socks.  And to be clear, I have beautiful feet that have no sores.  Take that.

So based on today's post, here's today's A-List and why it matters:

1. I'm not perfect (and neither are you) but my feet are worthy of their own statue.  If anyone out there is a scultpor looking for the foot version of the "David,"  here I am.
2. I survived elementary school on juice boxes.  They say it can't be done.  It can.
3. Pumps prompt questions.  Having been asked a million times, "What is that?  Is that a pager with a wire?," my favorite response has been, "No, it's a taser.  The FBI only gives out a few of these a year, so it's pretty awesome to be one of a select few to have one for self defense or really out of control parties.  Maybe I'll show you how it works later."
4. Stilt Walkers are funny.  They just are.
5. Flip flops are my eye into the future of my feet.  In fact, if I ever lose those feet, at least I will have spent a good 30+ years looking at them.