A Girl's Reflections

We stepped onto the sidewalk waiting for our taxi, when I heard the sound. It was my insulin pump and it did not sound good. The screen went blank and the buttons were unresponsive.

I remembered changing the battery the night before.

We were in Paris, leaving for Brussels that morning. I did not have time to troubleshoot my insulin pump. I rushed back into the apartment, placed my pump on the bed and grabbed my backup syringes and some insulin.

I checked my blood sugar once seated, waiting for our train to depart. I took out my insulin and a syringe only to find that the markings had robbed off. I mumbled a few expletives.

I had not used a syringe in months and the markings had been erased as it sat in the bottom of my case with never used lancets, batteries etc. Syringe after syringe they were all partially erased.

Thankfully I had a few Daily Dose syringes, I had forgotten about also, at the bottom of my case. They totally came to my rescue. The Daily Dose syringes have their markings on the inside as opposed to the other syringe.I wrote about them in the summer.

Brussels was beautiful, we had a great time even though I had to test my blood sugar every 2hours and inject insulin.

It’s bad enough that I do not get a vacation from living with type 1 diabetes. I am even OK with it tagging along on my vacation, however it is not cool that my precious insulin pump malfunctioned.

I have quite the tale to tell, but you will have to wait till I get back from my vacation.

I refuse to let diabetes ruin my vacation.

I watched the locals as they went about their daily life in a city that receives approximately 27 million tourists a year. I wondered if they saw their city the same way visitors do.

Vacation is about choice and everything we do and go to see is all by choice and we attach a positive element to our choice. Where as we often see our daily life as responsibility, which is as a burden and there is nothing positive about burdens.

I was eavesdropping when I heard a man tell his companion that he never gets tired of seeing the Eiffel Tower.

“Every time I see it, it’s like a man seeing his love again”

I had overhead him say earlier that he is a “true Parisian” born and raised. And he gets some of the same feelings visitors get from seeing the Eiffel Tower. He chooses to still see the beauty in a structure that is a permanent fixture in his life, and in turn he is rewarded with the same feeling I get as a tourist visiting the city.

It was a mini aha moment – at home or on vacation stopping to smell the roses is a valuable exercise.

Confession # 7

Today I am in my favorite European city. I love our temporary apartment located in the historic district, Le Marais in Paris, France

Je vous souhaite une merveilleuse journée