Wow! Thank you!!

I don't even really know what to say.

I started this blog about two years ago, mostly as a place to express my thoughts, emotions, frustrations, struggles and successes in living with type 1 diabetes.

I found that blogging about things was very therapeutic for me. A way to flesh out these really vague feelings and emotions that I have about our condition. A way to explore my path to acceptance, to deal with grief, to work towards the positive.

It's also a piece of history. My kids, grand kids, great-grand kids and more will be able to look back on the book of Scott's life (at least the aspect of dealing with diabetes, which is pretty all encompassing most of the time). We don't often have an opportunity like that with the ones we love. I would love an opportunity to listen to the stories that my mom had, or my dad has, or my grandparents and other loved ones have.

Being diagnosed at the age of five, much of the emotional side of a diagnosis like type 1 diabetes was just not dealt with. How could it be? At that age you just find a way to cope with things, and move on.

As I grow and try to mature, I am finding a need to work towards acceptance. Blogging is one of the ways for me to do that. It's just something I need to do.

Before long I started to enjoy a handful of very much appreciated benefits.

1) My dad started reading. Our relationship has grown through my blog. He is able to get a view of what goes on in my head. Through that we are able to talk more about a very difficult thing for both of us to deal with. His young son diagnosed with a lifelong chronic condition, and me growing up and dealing with challenges around living with that condition.

2) Connection. I think that those of us that live with or deal with diabetes connect almost instantly with one another. We know. We experience. We deal and we cope. Through the wonders of the Internet, we are able to easily share our stories, and participate with one another. Not more than a few years ago, you had to know much more about how the "web" worked and how to develop your own web pages. Not to mention hosting, domain names, e-mail services and all that jazz too. Now, you go to www.blogger.com and fill in a few things - BAM! You're online. Nice.

3) Contribution. To know, through your comments and e-mails, that my story has had some impact in your life is really touching to me.

4) So many great friendships that have developed. Even though I know all of you only "virtually", through our blogs, I feel like we are all old friends. We could so easily meet in real life and be instantly almost 100% comfortable with each other.
I did know Violet in real life, then she split town. It's cool though. I promised her I would not scare off the next local celebrity I meet...
I was also reaquanted with my long lost brother from another mother.

5) An opportunity to write for the really awesome (and AWARD WINNING) dLife.com. Who would have EVER thought that I would be doing something like that?! Crazy I tell you! Who could ask for a better group of people to work with?

6) So many other things that I won't try to capture and explain here.

I am really honored and surprised by winning these awards. There are really so many other great blogs out there. I'm just glad to be a part of this family we have. I'm in great company with the other award winners, but also am very proud to consider you all friends. It really does mean a lot to me.

Thank you.

A special thanks to Allison for taking the time and energy to not only set up the Awards, but also for the incredible amount of time and energy it took to organize the Official Diabetes OC Website. And yes, I know she hates when we blather on about how much we appreciate all she does for us, but really, it is such a great thing for her to do. Thanks Allison!

A side note: I have been procrastinating on the task of updating my template since switching over to the new blogger stuff. I've just been worried to death that I'll do something that wipes the current template out completely. I've saved a backup, and will probably work this weekend to update things - I've got a couple award icons to display now! Wish me luck!

Thanks again everyone - I really do appreciate it.