The Corner Booth

My cell phone rang, and when answering it, an unexpected and very interesting piece of news came my way not too long ago. Before I knew it, things would be changing. On a trip up to Michigan recently, I was relaxing on the couch in my parents' living room when that cell phone call came in. Being in Indy now for close to a decade, it's always nice being able to visit the home-state. A draw-back of these visits, though, is that they're usually short and a whole bunch is packed into just a few days. This time, it was only the Riley Dog and I making the five-hour trip from the Indy area to the Detroit area. Able to work from home or anywhere, I took care of business as usual during the work-hours on Thursday and Friday. Then it was time to visit with family and friends. So when Saturday afternoon rolled around, it was nice not having anything specific to do. My parents went out for a bit on errands and I took some time to hang out and rest my mind by catching up on ...

We all need a little perspective sometimes. Mine came on the heels of a week of diabetes conference activity and advocacy talk, and it was a reality check that slapped me upside the head while screaming at me about how much bigger the world is than diabetes. One phone call was enough to remind me that, in the grand scheme, diabetes isn't that big of a deal. Really. There are a whole lot of worse conditions and diagnoses that trump the "incurable but manageable" classification of diabetes any day of the week. Especially those that carry the terminal disease tag. I've been living with type 1 diabetes for most of my life, going on three decades. But I have no idea what kind of hell and devastation is involved in many other disease states such as Lou Gehrig's, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and more. No clue. Given that, I'm lucky to be living with an autoimmune condition that I can keep "under control" for the most part and not be stopped fro...

On this final day of Diabetes Blog Week 2012 (boo, so sad!), we're ending the week on a high note by blogging about our "Diabetes Hero." As Karen suggests: "It can be anyone you'd like to recognize or admire, someone you know personally or not, someone with diabetes or maybe a Type 3 . It might be a fabulous endo or CDE. It could be a D-celebrity or role model. It could be another DOC member. It's up to you — who is your Diabetes Hero?" Well, I wasn't sure what to write here. My mind wandered... It might depend on whether we're talking Avenger-like heroes, who save the planet and have cool gadgets to fight crime (do pumps, meters or awesome suits like Caleb envisions count?). Or whether we're talking more sentimental "role models" who we look up to for the life lessons they've taught us? Maybe it depends on the definition of a hero. Merriam-Webster gives us some food for thought: a mythical or legendary figure with gre...

It's an honor to be writing here from the perspective of a D-Wife, though it's nothing glamorous. It's just our life, what we know and do, and I hope that someone can get something out of what is shared here. We've been married for six years this September (2011) but have been together for about 10 ½ years total. From time to time, I have tried to write my story down. But really, I find my life rather boring and hard to write about. No children yet, except the furry kinds who rule the Hoskins Household. So here it is, in a nutshell: I'm the one ... Who is not a blog writer, but has many random thoughts that may or may not present themselves in list form. Who loves seafood, but found out the hard way that I'm allergic to it. Who is the shortest in my family, but is tall enough so that my feet touch the ground. Who loves to garden and play in the mud, but hates to get dirty. Who wishes my pets had opposable thumbs, instead of a wagging tail that knocks stu...