THE STORY OF ONE FAMILY'S JOURNEY WITH TYPE 1 DIABETES AND CELIAC DISEASE.
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Thursday, July 7, 2011

West Coast D Mamas: Meeting Meri

Do you know how long it takes to drive from from Arizona to Washington with three little girls who have three little bladders; including one child with diabetes, and another prone to motion sickness?

A long time.

Fortunately, my husband has some family who live around the half way point (give or take a couple hours, but, really, who's counting?)

Which just so happens to be the same town where Meri and her beautiful family live.


Which just so happens to be the same town where my husband spent intermittent parts of his childhood.

Which just so happens to be the reason my husband's picture can be found in Meri's high school yearbook!


I KNOW!  How crazy is THAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?

It must have been fate that our paths would cross one day.  The stars were aligned just right :) I mean you DO know Meri, right?  Meri, who is always banging out inspirational, motivational blog posts?  Meri, who is raising 4 amazing boys...THREE of which have type 1 diabetes?

YES!!!!!  THAT AMAZING MERI!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, anyway, after driving AAAALLLL day, we finally arrived.  Of course, we were up and out the door before dawn...so we were all still in our jammies.  There's NO WAY the girls and I could meet his family (AND MERI!) for the first time wearing PJ's after sitting in the stale car air for 14 hours, soooooo....we stopped at a grocery store a few minutes away to get everyone changed and freshened up a bit in the bathrooms.  We must have been quite a site lugging in a suitcase!  I'm sure management must have wondered if we were moving in.

But I digress.

On the way up, Meri stopped over for a quick hello before we set off on the rest of the road trip early the next morning.  When she texted me that she was on her way, my heart skipped a beat (Corny...I KNOW!).  A few minutes later, Sugar needed to get something out of the van, so we walked outside...and then I saw the headlights........and OMIGOSH........MERI was standing right in front of me!!!!  It was like a scene from a movie or something.  There were hugs and tears as if we had been friends forever...we both stood there and couldn't believe it was REAL!!!  She came in for a little chat and then was on her way.

Fast forward 2 weeks and we were back in town, but this time for a couple days.

On Saturday, Meri and her MOST FABULOUS HUSBAND, Ryan (Hi Ryan!), cooked up a wonderful breakfast and invited us into their home.  They scoured labels to make sure everything was gluten free, and prepared a feast fit for 4 royal princes and 3 royal princesses (and their parents).  I brought along some GF pancake mix and Ryan (the most awesome baker that he his) whipped them up while Meri and I chatted and chatted and chatted...because, you know, what else do moms do when they get together????

Sugar tested at their "diabetes station".  I watched as she analyzed everyone's plates to eyeball their carbs in the blink of an eye.  It was amazing.  Like she had a 6th sense that allowed her to remember which boy had how many carbs on his plate, who was coming back for more, and who still needed to bolus.  I even had the honor to sit next to her in her favorite blogging spot AND we broke out the laptop to peruse around online a little.  We swapped stories about meeting our husbands, each diagnosis, and laughed about how crazy it was that we've been pals online for 2 years.

It was seriously awesome.

Meri and her family are seriously awesome.

Meri's home is seriously awesome.

AND LAWTON IS SERIOUSLY AWESOME!

Here's some pics...but please forgive the camera phone quality...






Thanks for the memories, Meri.

It was a joy to meet you and your beautiful family!!!

PS -- Here's a recap of the Summer 2011 West Coast D Mama Meet Ups...



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18 comments:

  1. That bottom picture of all the kids sitting together made me think of the Brady Bunch, lol!

    Meeting DOC in person who you've formed a relationship with is powerful!

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  2. Omgosh...OMGOSH...OMGOSH!!!! I am loving this post and really like how you described her sixth sense. What I wouldn't give to meet the likes of you and Meri. Someday. MUAH!!!!

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  3. Great pics! It's awesome that you got to have a GF Pancake Breakfast together, what a fantastic meet up!!!

    I love stories about D-Peeps connecting. They are the BEST!!! :)

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  4. Hooray for Meetups! I think it is safe to say there a many of us out here who are so completely in AWE of Meri and her family. What a treat to get to spend time with them!!!! I cannot believe how much Sugar looks like your husband..you can really see the resemblance in that high school photo!!

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  5. I know JEN!! When I saw that pic all I thought was, "That is the boy version of SUGAR!"

    This is quite possibly the nicest post, comments, anyone has made about me. I have to say that the feeling was ABSOLUTELY mutual! The meeting was so easy. Seriously, like meeting up with my sister. I'm so glad we were able to make the connection! Love you dear Wendy! Hug your girls for me, and maybe an extra hug for my littlest buddy!

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  6. How awesome! Sounds like a wonderful time and what a blessing for you guys to meet up. I'd say the cards were definitely lined up from the get go!!!

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  7. LOVE MEET UPS!! So cool that you were able to spend some time with Meri and her fam.
    I think we need to organize our own convention so all of us can be in one place at the same time!!

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  8. Yay for meet-ups! Meri really is the bestest!

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  9. What fun! I can't believe Meri and your hubby went to the same HS how oddly cool is that?! I bet you guys had a nice relaxing time together, like ol' pals!

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  10. I'm crying because I'm so happy that you girls got to hug in real life! I want to hug each of you too!!! And JEN! I thought the same thing about Sugar and J's freshman pic! Thanks for a peek into your awesome meet up! Maybe I will be there for the next one!!

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  11. Woo-Woo!!!!! The photos are fabulous and teh story is even better!!! I love reading about D-meet-ups.

    Anyone else find it a little weird seeing two of the DOC's bestest pancreases in one photo? ;)

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  12. What a wonderful meet-up! Nope - not jealous! NopeNopeNope!!!!! I'm so happy that you got to spend some time together --- meet ups are the best!!

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  13. I totally thought the same thing about J and Sugar!!

    And I am smiling SO BIG my face might break! This is sooooooo cool!!! I love it! Meeting MERI!?! And her family? and LAWTON!?! You know I have a total pet crush on Lawton. Me. The so NOT a dog person thinks he is the coolest!!

    One day..... One day....

    In the meantime, I just love this post!!!

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  14. Smiling ear to ear the whole time reading this. BOTH you and Meri are DOC D-mama heros! I was so excited to get to meet you and hope that someday I will meet Meri too!
    <3

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  15. Awesome! Made me so teary eyed! Can't wait till we all can have one big group hug!

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  16. I love it! SO glad you made some wonderful Memories! :)

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  17. So great you guys got to hang out! And it's so crazy about your husband going to the same hs!! Thanks for the pics! :)

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P.S. (Moderation has been enabled due to mega-spamming sugar cubes.)

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While I'm happy to share our experiences with what works, and what doesn't work, for the management of Type 1 Diabetes and Celiac Disease in our house, please do not mistake anything you read here for medical advice. Decisions regarding your/your child's health care should be made only with the assistance of your medical care team. Use any information from this blog at your own risk.