Livestrong

So, I have returned to Norway after traispsing through the vastness of the good ol USA for 3 weeks! I went places I have never been and suddenly found myself wanting to impress my Norwegian husband and our 2 Norwegian friends with my country. Let me assure you, there is nothing that will bring out every bit of latent patriotism in you like traveling through your country with a bunch of people who are not from there. As we drove through the Grand Canyon, I thought to myself, 'This is MY country.' As we drove along California's highway 1, I thought, again, 'this is MY country'. I was so proud! America is beautiful. Filled with beautiful and generous people. It was so good to reconnect with that!

So, I mentioned that I have been a bit of diabetic daredevil. This is my term for my reckless culinary behavior while on vacation. For some reason, this whole 'diabetes thing' just won't sink in. I am lazy. I am lazy. I am lazy. I know that going to the gym will lower my bloodsugar. Have I gone? NO! I don't want to take insulin, but HAVE I GONE TO THE GYM?? no.
So, while we were in San Franscisco, I went into the Border's bookstore in Union Square. Now, a little background information on this excursion. When I moved to Europe, I was amazed the first summer because in July, all regular scheduled programming is pre-empted for 5 hours of daily coverage of...yes...Le Tour de France! Or as we say in the states, The Tour of France. So, I have never really known ANYTHING about cycling, but I got hooked, and it was even better that an American named Lance Armstrong was winning. It was very exciting and I became a huge fan. I read about him and was truly impressed with his recovery from cancer. So, we went into Border's and I saw his book, 'It's Not About the Bike' on the shelf. I bought it. I read it. I was inspired by it. I mean, if Lance can beat testicular, lung and brain cancer, SURELY, I can manage my Diabetes!
Now, I am going to admit something. I have always disliked those yellow bands that everyone in the world seems to be wearing on their wrists. Yes, the one that say LIVESTRONG on them. And I have not been too big of a fan of the countless reproductions that followed in every color from the rainbow.

BUT....
I had a conversation with my two selfs. The lazy self and the self who wants to be healthy.
'OK lazy self, I will make a deal with you. You are going to march into that Nike store and you are going to buy one of those yellow Lance bracelets.!'
'NO!!!, I don't like those. I don't want to look like I am trying to be trendy!'
'Too Bad! You should have thought about that before you refused to tackle diabetes! You are going to get one of those bracelets and you are going to wear it, and everyday, you will look at it, and you will be reminded that you can BEAT this! That you can get yourself to the gym for natural insulin and that you don't have to be sick! To remind yourself that you can LIVESTRONG and not sick! And you cannot take it off until you reach your goals!'
'I don't wanna wear it!!!'
'Tough luck kiddo! Shut up and buy it!'

So, healthy self won out over lazy self and I bought one. Three of them actually. But lazy self refused to put one on until she returned home to Oslo. So, I finally put one on. It's like a binding agreement. I look down and I see these words 'LIVESTRONG'...powerful words those. Live strong. And I tell you. I am going to try.
I don't want to die from this. I don't want to be sick from this. I don't want my eyes to go bad from this. I don't WANT this. But since I do have it, I am going to do everything in my power to make my body a VERY uncomfortable place for Diabetes to live.

Wow. It sounds so good. So, here's to living strong.

I'll let you know how it goes.