Friends for Life 2014

Yesterday I wrote about green bracelets. They are apparently a pretty big thing in the Type 1 world.

The first time I heard about them was when I read about people attending the Friends for Life Children With Diabetes conference in Orlando. They wrote about how emotional it was to be there and spot all the people wearing green bracelets.

People just like them who, while they might look different on the outside, shared the same faulty pancreas. People just like them who, no matter what their job, their background or their favourite tv show, all need to inject insulin just to stay alive.

People who wear that green bracelet understand like no one else what it feels like to be high. Or low. What it feels like to have to eat when you don't want to. They know all too well that sharp pain when the insulin needle hits a nerve. That burning sensation that we feel sometimes when the insulin is going in. The frustration we feel when we are judged by the word 'diabetes'.

For the past few years I have read about people's experiences at the Friends for Life conference.

This year, for the first time, I won't just be reading about it.

I'll be writing about it.

One week today, on Canada Day no less, I'll be en route to Orlando for the four-day conference. When I get there I'll be one of the people wearing that green bracelet. I'll be making conversation with complete strangers simply because they are wearing one too.

I will see, and maybe even meet, some of the Diabetes Online Community powerhouses whose blogs I read every day. I will see a few friends I have already met, on-line or in person.

And who knows, maybe someone there actually reads Running on Carbs and might think it's kinda cool that they get to met the Canadian girl who paints her nails before races, wears a Fitbit who writes blogs and who plays golf with a handicap of 47.

I'll bring my fountain pen to sign autographs just in case.