July 23, 2012

Friends For Life: The Connection




I feel so blessed that our family was able to make the trip to Orlando this summer for the Friends For Life conference.  It was our first FFL experience - as you can tell by our "First Timer" ribbons!


I sat in the ballroom, overwhelmed by the beautiful people that filled the room, listening to Tom Karlya's keynote speech.  I was thinking about how I wished everyone in the diabetes community could experience this atmosphere.  My eyes were bouncing from one green bracelet to another.  Earlier Ally had commented to me about all the green bracelets...she couldn't believe that so many people had diabetes like her. 

The green bracelet of belonging for the Type 1s. 
The orange bracelet of belonging for the people that love someone with Type 1.

Tom Karlya said that support is just as important as knowledge.  He said, "We need to work together to move forward." 

I told myself that I needed to carve out the time to blog.  I'm sure that I've said before that I blog for different reasons.  I blog to vent (it is therapy you know!).  I blog to educate.  And maybe more than anything else, I blog for the connection.

Connecting with other parents of children with diabetes - it is something so amazing that I can't even put it into words.  Well maybe one - SAME.  My orange bracelet gave me the same sense of belonging that the green bracelet gave Ally.

Photobucket

12 comments:

  1. I'm so blessed to finally have hugged your neck! Love you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh no no no! I'm the lucky one :) Love you right back!

      Delete
  2. It was great to meet you and your family in person!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is really fun meeting people IRL that we feel like we have known through the amazing world of technology!

      Delete
  3. I am so glad you were able to make it to Friends for Life. I know we didn't chat much but it was great seeing your family there with the other D-Moms.

    Sometimes it can be easy to be distracted by all the other nonsense out there in the blogging world but it does all come back to the connection, doesn't it! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know! I'm sorry that we didn't have more time to chat. I really appreciate talking to you all...it gives me more perspective than you even know! SO, looking forward to next time I see you and hoping we can chat :)

      Delete
  4. Glad I was able to come hang out with you. We will have to meet up for some more strawberry mojitos :)Hmmmm... maybe a girls trip to NY this time.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Love that pic of your beautiful fam!
    It was great to be able to hang out IRL...nothing like same around the table, sharing drinks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Loved spending time with you and Ubergeek IRL!! Can't wait til next time!

      Delete

Hugs and Kisses from...

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...