Sunday, July 27, 2008

The Ultimate Compliment


What would be the ultimate compliment? Ponder while I tell you about my day.

Today was a beautiful (but hot) afternoon to go biking with the usual JDRF suspects - Dave Dahler, Steve & Amy Eager, Steve & Kitty Verkuilen, Joe Brady, Harvey Johnson (who has become a crazy rockstar on his bike), Patti Batt, Bob Gorsuch, newcomer Julie from Saris, Sheryl, Laura Bauer, etc. A great mix.

I was rushing around because a new neighbor decided to pop over to introduce herself and welcome me to the neighborhood - turns out we have known each other from a previous life, but I digress. The point of that story is that it made me late. So I rush into a convenience store to buy necessities - water, gatorade (I could NOT find my vitalyte and was seriously bummed), blueberry crumble coffee (yes, I am a coffee snob) and then I look...what on earth is actually edible? Hmmm... I pick up...these oatmeal cookie dealios. Um, bad idea.
So, I eat it as I'm driving and realize it has this taste...you know the one... "shelf-life" taste, like it could last through a nuclear holocaust? That's the one.
Patti and I are climbing a hill called "Old Mother" (which I might have added one more noun to that phrase) and the so-called cookie gets...well.... tossed.
Hm. Interestingly enough, I feel GREAT after that.
After finishing up a great ride with friends, I go home and spend some time chatting with Anne Findlay, one of the Triabetes superstar athletes. As we are chatting away, she makes a comment about Jesse doing the Ironkidz trip - a great excursion planned by the good folks at insulindependence that pairs up a type 1 child with one of the triabetes athletes. And she says, "you could be Jesse's Triabetes athlete."
You see, she then cracked up because she remembered - I do not have type 1 diabetes. Now, John Moore has said to me on many occasions that I should be flattered that he frequently forgets that I produce insulin. In our world, that is an extremely flattering compliment in some strange way. It just is. Now I got two of the athletes forgetting...who can I get to forget next?
PS The picture of the cookie is NOT a product endorsement NOR was it delicious NOR do they give us money for this project. Um, yucky.

1 comment:

Brickhead said...

Well Hammer - that was incredibly well written and funny...A+++

I haven't puked in awhile but I did get thrown up on the other night...perhaps there was some vomit mojo going on among triabetics (which would include you...the "Lone Insulin Producer"...I could be your Tonto...I kind of have the native american look, kemosabe