Today, I'll write about freedom. The letter f.

I really don't feel like writing about diabetes today. I don't feel like thinking about it. I don't feel like testing or bolusing. I will, of course, test and bolus, because as much as I'd like a break, I value my health and the feeling of well-being and well, being alive that infused insulin brings me...

But today, I'm going to share another piece of writing. To remind myself that it isn't all about diabetes. My life, that is. My existence. My writing. None of these things are all about diabetes. And I hope that by sharing something else here, someone else will realize the same. That your life is not all about diabetes, despite the fact that it seems to take up so much room.

I don't typically share a lot of my personal poetry and short stories publicly, but I need some FREEDOM from diabetes today. Like the state government during a blizzard, the only diabetes allowed on my premises at the moment are "essential personnel." That means I'll do what I need to get by (read: test, insulin, eat). While I'm on my day off, I hope you'll enjoy this piece...

After you died

Fire came
And licked you away

You were ashes
That fell through my fingers

Leaving your dusted mark
On my hands

We scattered you
Among the berries in the wood

And they remembered those days
Of your youth

When you walked through
This green

While I remembered
The days we kissed

Rolling in the dirt
On the forest floor

Alone now with you on my fingers
And in my heart

Our kisses are ashes
Our love is dust

Stay tuned for "G" after the long weekend from diabetes thinking and writing... G is for Glucose Tabs. Not the fancy-dancy kind that they sell these days. Nope, we'll be talking about the chalky, dry, lemon-flavored-only ones that were the chosen treatment for low blood sugars at diabetes camp when I was a girl...