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Friends For Life 2016 has come and gone, and strangely enough, my suitcases aren't putting themselves away (okay, they are now... two months later). So, in true procrastinator fashion, I'm going to write my FFL run-down instead of dealing with said suitcases. As always, bullet-pointed... because that's all my brain can handle:
- There's nothing like waking up at 6:00 AM, after getting very little sleep due to some wicked storms that lasted all night, and finding out your flight leaves a whole hour earlier than you thought.
- I also love racing to the airport, only to sit on the plane for 90 minutes at the gate. Because they were waiting for catering.
- Florida in summer is truly the third circle of hell. But that's okay, Texas is the fourth circle, so I'm kind of used to it. Also, POOOOOOOOOL!
- Nothing like watching fireworks from the pool.
- One very interesting take-away I heard in not one, but two sessions, is that the biggest determinant of a1c is the amount of support the person with type 1 has. Not technology, not diet, not type of insulin... but support. I don't know why that made my head explode (in a good way), but it makes so much sense.
- So someone start building that commune, already!
- Ed Damiano gave the opening keynote speech, and what can I say? He and the whole Go Bionic team are amazing. And I love seeing Elise's pic up there on his slides.
- I also had so much fun seeing these girls again... I had forgotten how much we laugh together.
- So one of my bestie FFLs couldn't make it this year, so I went around and took selfies (and if you know me, I am NOT a selfie person), with some of her favourite people. And proceeded to probably annoy the crap out of her by texting every last one of them to her.
- Also, Joe Solo smells good. #sniffjoe
- We got to see our friends whose oldest daughter went to school with Elise for two years. They then moved away to another state, and their youngest (same age as Lucas) was dx'd at Christmas. So glad they made the trek to FFL!
- The banquet was Wizard-themed this year... lots of fun props to play with!
- George Canyon played a few songs during the dinner... he's T1, Canadian, and he sang a song about farts! Triple crown! Seriously, I am so thankful for the prominent people with T1 that come out to FFL. I love that our kids have some great role-models out there.
- And can I just say how amazing the childcare/elementary programs are? My kiddos love going to their groups. And this girl, S... Mattias loves her. When they were saying goodbye, he didn't want to let go.
- Speaking of Mattias... do you know what's awesome? Your 5 year old throwing up multiple times during the night. Having housekeeping come at 1:30 AM to change a vomit-covered bed was the part of my life I didn't know was missing. Thankfully, it was right before we went home and only lasted for 12 hours.
- Whoever thought up Sports Central is awesome. We loved hanging with Bill and Betsy, and playing soccer until they shut us down.
- And just in case anyone asks, we most certainly did NOT have our three year old fall asleep on the floor in the corner of the soccer field. Okay, maybe we did.
- If you're on the fence about FFL, and you have a way to make it happen, I encourage you to go. Just go. You have no idea the information, love, support, and new friends that await you. It not only helps Elise to feel "normal", but I think is great at teaching empathy to her brothers. It has taught me how to "roll" with diabetes better, and to really understand that this disease is not a "one-size-fits-all" kind of thing. I love hearing everyone else's perspective.
See that adorable face? That was Elise on the day she was diagnosed. Over 8 years ago. Fast forward to this:
This Saturday, this cute face, along with 150+ others, will walk in the JDRF One Walk in Dallas for Team Elise. If you live in the area and want to join us, just go to www.teamelise.com and click "Join".
If you don't live in the area, but would like to support Team Elise, you can do so by following the above instructions which will take you to the JDRF fundraising page.
Go Team Elise!
