Frozen with fear.

My way home from the gym takes me through the center of town, past Noah's school. Every day, as I drive by, I say a little prayer for a good day for my son. I think about him and hope he's doing OK. Like the movie Groundhog Day, the routine doesn't change. I go home the same way, see the same familiar homes, and make the same wish. Every day.

Today, it was the lights of the ambulance I saw through the rain, as I made my way up the hill towards the school. As it sped toward me, I pulled over and at once my shaking hand went to my gym bag to fish out my cell. My mind was reeling.

It was coming from the direction of school.

Oh God, please don't let it be Noah.

Where's that damn phone.

My searching hand found it's target. I hit the button on the front of my LG to see the familiar picture, and no messages. For good measure I flipped it open and called my home voice mail too. Empty. Thank you, God.

I was completely pulled off the road by now. I put the car in park and wept with my forehead on the steering wheel. The feeling of helplessness and panic that overcame me when I saw those lights was replaced by relief. After a minute, I lifted my head and saw I had pulled over right in front of Noah's school.

I said a little prayer for a good day for my son, and drove home.

Cool little product found in my local Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart is a necessary evil in my life. I despise that place, yet I found myself there recently.

On a Saturday afternoon.

The plan was to get in (just TRY to block out that screaming 3 year old), pick up a few much needed things (toilet paper and sunblock!), and get the hell out (check-out lines stretched all the way to the Mass. border) with my sanity intact and maybe with some gas money to spare.

That's when, with my hands full, Noah begged me to go down the aisle with the "beach stuff". Juggling our loot, and with the check out in full view, I sighed heavily, and bid adieu to a quick getaway. "On to the beach stuff", I wearily exclaimed.

Amid the insane amount of swimmies, sand-castle making buckets and shovels, and a gazillion towels emblazoned with Iron Man and Hannah Montana, were these cool little things:



They are meant to protect your keys, ID, cash, or small cell phone from water at the beach or boating. I tend to D-purpose items not specifically created for diabetes, (Noah wears his pump in a cell phone case at night)and saw this case as the perfect place to stash some strips and meter. Although nifty, it's not very big, so I bought 2. They do sell bigger versions of these at places like EMS- I got my dad one for kayaking- but at just under $2.oo apiece, these were a great bargain.

Even if I did have to go to the 7th level of hell to get them.

Beachy Keen

I would have posted this sooner, but i have been too burnt/recovering/busy/tired up until now-it's like the first time I've sat down in a week!


On Memorial Day, my mom, Jon, Noah and I went to the beach for the very first time this season (as evidenced by Noah's kind of pasty complexion). It was the most amazingly perfect weather that day. Warm, but not too warm. Windy, blue, bright, salty and sandy.




As an added bonus, the Cozmo held strong through all the digging, boogie boarding, and salty water flung it's way, and we had no problems getting back into our old D-beach routine.

Friday Meme.

I've been tagged by the very sweet and hilariously funny, Shannon.

Once you’ve been tagged, you have to write a blog with 10 weird, random, facts, habits or goals about yourself. At the end, choose 6 people to be tagged, list their names & why you tagged them. Don’t forget to leave them a comment saying “You’re it!” & to go read your blog. You cannot tag the person that tagged you, so since you’re not allowed to tag me back; let me know when you are done so I can go read YOUR weird, random, facts, habits and goals.

1. I worked as a 411 operator for 8 years, and at that job, I got to hear people chewing food in my ear, peeing into the toilet, screaming at the top of their lungs, etc. and, I was called every nasty name in the book. It's amazing how awful people will treat someone when they know they're somewhat anonymous.

2. One of my goals is to become very fit. I want to become a runner- one day making it to the Boston Marathon. Currently, I run at a speed of 6.3 for about 30 seconds for every 10 minutes of walking on the treadmill. So by age 55 or so I should be ready for the starting line.

3. When I was little, after seeing Jaws for the first time, I was paranoid just taking a bath. Even weirder, Jaws is now my favorite movie.

4. I have been mugged. I was living in my first apartment in a crappy part of town, and was approached in broad daylight while walking home from work, punched a couple times in the face, and my jewelry was yanked from around my neck and fingers.

5. One of my favorite things to do is visit Open Houses. I'm not looking for a new home, I have Nosy-Neighboritis. I also love to be in the car at night, and catch a glimpse of the inside of people's houses while riding by. I swear I'm not a stalker- I just like to see your cabinets and decor.

6. When Noah was born, the nurse and doctor at the hospital were giving us our instructions for care before we went home.
Give him a sponge bath - check.
Put diaper cream on - check.
Apply alcohol to the belly button - check.
When we got to the part about the circumcision, I asked "do you put alcohol on that, too?" My husband and the doctor both looked at each other in shear horror, hands automatically dropping protectively to their crotches, as though I threatened to dip their own junk into hot lava... "dear God, no! Whatever you do, don't do that!"

In my defense, 4 days prior I went through 10 hours of labor, 2 hours of pushing to no avail, a scary and urgent c-section, and a morphine drip that I seriously considered smuggling from the hospital. Cut me some slack.

7. I have saved every card, note and letter from my husband.

8. One day, I hope to get the nerve to sing on stage. I've always wanted to be like Ann Wilson from Heart.

9. About a year after High School, my friend Danyel and I got the crazy idea to move to Florida. We crammed my '80 Honda Civic hatchback with as much junk as we could fit, and drove. Our first stop on the way was in Delaware.
We stayed in a place that reminded me so much of the Bates Motel, I would not shower there. I'm convinced there may have been a murder in our room at one point, as there was a large, ominous, dark amoeba-like stain on the ancient carpet. Our night consisted of sitting half asleep in our beds, afraid to come into contact with the bed linens, as a mouse ate through every ounce of food that we brought with us. We went back to Massachusetts the next day.


10. I have a huge goal...I want to live in Ireland one day. Even if it's just for a couple years or so. I love it there.


Members of the OC, I tag you - It's Friday, do a meme! :)

My Mother's Day Surprise

Me & my girlie cruiser.

Noah told me he and my husband miss me when they go on their bike rides, and now I won't be left out!


I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday!

Talking Type 1

Find more videos like this on Tu Diabetes - A Community for People Touched by Diabetes

During our meeting in Boston with Manny and Andreina from TuDiabetes, Noah gave a little interview on the Swan Boats. He talks about life with Type 1 diabetes.

We spent the day on a movie set.

It's not as exciting or glamorous as the title suggests. This vacation week, we've planned little day trips, and yesterday Noah chose to visit his perfect paradise - the Lego Store at the Burlington Mall (in MA).

We entered the mall through Macy's and it felt like a Twilight Zone episode as the realization crept up on us slowly, that everything surrounding us was dripping with Christmas Decorations. What the...!?!?!


Then we saw the sign:

It was really cool to see a little bit of Hollywood magic, even though we didn't see much action or any celebrities.

Oh, and on a health care/ diabetes note:
Look what they had on the wall in the restroom. I had never seen one outside of the doctors office, and thought it was really cool that it was available to people.
Maybe it's because I have a public bathroom phobia and try not to visit them unless it's a dire emergency, but this is new to me! (And maybe a little too exciting- I mean, I took a picture of the thing! )