You carry me and I will carry you

Perhaps never more so than today, have I felt connected.

The DOC is a very strange place and I must admit to approaching all "social media" with a degree of scepticism. I have only recently begun to enter the 21st centuy technologically. Whilst I have had a computer for some time, I have remained proud of being a kind of "Luddite"...old school..brought up at a time when kids were kids, playing meant sliding in the dirt and a social gathering was a picnic with family and friends at the park.

I loved that time of my life. It was a combination of both the innocence and freedom of a sheltered childhood (which I might add was Diabetes free) and the fun of playing with friends. I guess to some extent everyone lucky enough to grow up in a good home remembers their younger days fondly but I do particularly so.

At the risk of sounding like an old grandparent (in my mid 30s) I love handwritten letters, I love meeting one on one and I love conversations where everything is laid on the table. That time where close friends share their innermost thoughts and fears looking to help each other out. That process I have always thought was organic. You can't plan to sit down with someone and have D&M (Deep and Meaningful), it just happens. Those times I have shared with friends remain and always will, some of my lifes most treasured memories. I both loved them in the past tense and LONG for them in the future. I am not ashamed to admit that I hate playing "nicities". I hate superficial relationships. I understand that everybody has acquaintances, work colleagues and then their friends I just seem to long for more friends and less acquaintances.

With that said I am still very weary of online "lives". I am not a part of Facebook and have only recently began to dip my toes in the world of Twitter. I long for face to face contact and I will always hold that view. Herein lies the contradiction.... I am posting an online blog.

Never before have I felt so supported by complete strangers as I do in the Diabetes Online Community. I am only very new to it and I know so very few of you but I love the transparency of its members...their "nakedness" as it were. Whether it be the vail of anonymity that writing online brings or just the people involved, I have found something in others blogs and forum posts that inspire me. Here everyone is united in a common struggle. We all share each others pain. We all endure roller-coaster BGLs at times and we all live with some kind of sword (named complications) hanging over our heads. You know how I feel and I know how you feel. Even in uspoken words we are together....Regardless of whether we never meet just reading your struggles can be inspiring. Connecting. Refreshing. Regenerating. I will always long for more moments of personal contact but in the mean time...

You carry me and I WILL carry you.