Diabetes Blog – Happy-Medium.net

Holey Moley, it’s been an amazing year. 2013 went by so fast.

Back in October, I wrote about how one thing at a time, over time, can add up to a lot if you just keep at it. This is very true for me when I think about the past year.

The following list is not designed to say “Here’s what I’ve done—what about you?”. Instead, it’s a reminder for myself, to remember during times when I feel like I’m not doing anything. Also, it’s a recap of the year that’s been, a Bridget Jones-like reference of the previous twelve months.

My life in 2013 included, in no particular order:

– One noteworthy anniversary

– Participation in two clinical trials

– Not participation in two other clinical trials. That’s right… I was disqualified from another AP study. Don’t want to talk about it.

– One entire week of gluten free eating (My Week with Celiac)

– Two 55 mile bike rides

– One 5K run with The Live-In Niece

– One Book Review (Shot – Staying Alive With Diabetes by Amy Ryan)

– A chance to meet Cherise Shockley for the first time, and begin to understand her passion for connecting others and helping them live better, more meaningful lives with diabetes. I left that meeting ready to charge up the hill for DCAF.

– A Chance to meet Scott Johnson in person for the first time, and an opportunity to meet Karen, Kerri, Shannon, and Christopher too. There were several others I met in passing that weekend that go unmentioned, but not forgotten. The CWD Focus on Technology conference definitely ranks as a major highlight of the year.

– One appearance on DSMA Live with Cherise Shockley and Scott Johnson

– Attendance at the DSMA Live meetup in Philadelphia in August. That meant a chance to see Cherise and Scott again, and meet Kelly and Allison and Brea (and her Mom) and Penny and Colleen and Maria and many more wonderful people who I can’t remember right now.

– While we’re on a DSMA kick, I should mention the countless #DSMA Twitter chats that I was lucky enough to take part in this year, including a special hour that I was honored to moderate on World Diabetes Day in November. Hands down, that was the fastest hour of the year.

– Also high on the list was the Manning Diabetes Symposium in Charlottesville back in April. Lots of talk about diabetes research from a number of experts in the field. I think I was the only one there that didn’t have a bunch of letters after the name on my lanyard, but I didn’t care. I soaked it all up like a sponge. Thanks to UVA’s Center for Diabetes Technology (I’m looking at you Molly) for letting me attend.

– One more event to mention: The JDRF Research Summit in the D.C. area back in March. There’s another coming up this March. Get all of the information at http://jdrfsummit.org.

– Finally: Five Medals were handed out to real bona fide Champion Athletes With Diabetes. And we’re just getting started. I can’t wait to hand out every medal we have, then order more to give away! To find out more, click on the medals image in the upper left part of this page. Or just click here.

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Wow, did all of that really happen? It all flew by really fast. Even so, I think know I would rather have participated in all these things that seemed to have happened so quickly, rather than missing even one. I wasn’t responsible for a lot of the things I was a part of this year, but I was glad to participate or help wherever I could.

With all this said, even though I’m not a New Year’s Resolution kind of guy, I do have a few things on my list for 2014. I don’t know if I’ll get to all of them. But I know it’s shaping up to be another interesting year searching for the Happy Medium.