Kool Thing

Following Kassie’s lead, here’s my list of 27 “pretty cool things" I’ve done in the 27 years since I’ve been diabetic (in approximate chronological order).

1. Learning to tie my shoes (don’t undervalue the small things)


2. Going to an amazing elementary school where I learned to love learning (how many people do you know that rave like this about their elementary school? It’s actually the only diploma I have hanging on a wall)


3. Pitching in Little League


4. Playing basketball in the street at our new house (out of Philly and into the suburbs when I was in 5th grade) with the older kids in the neighborhood (who I revered)


5. Making the 7th grade basketball team (but was then cut from the 8th grade team ‘cause I wasn’t tall enough (boo hoo))


6. Going to college and meeting an unimaginably great group of friends


7. Realizing that fly-fishing doesn’t just have to be “something to do with Dad” and that it is a really nice way to spend a morning (or actually (and perhaps preferably) a really nice way to spend a late afternoon into dusk after classes when there’s an insect hatch going on around you and you’re actually catching rainbow trout with a size #22 trico pattern… ahhh, now that was nice)


8. Becoming an uncle (twice)


9. Studying in Oxford for a summer (though that meant that I had to skip a summer-long driving trip around the US with my friend, Adam, in his VW bus (which I still have some minor regrets about))


10. Moving to Washington DC


11. Landing a job with a prestigious public policy think tank

    However...

    I was told one of the reasons I got hired was that I had on my resume that I painted lines on parking lots as a summer job, and thus they knew I would be willing to do mindless, repetitive tasks. Whatever gets you in the door, ya know?
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    and having the opportunity to work with many smart, friendly, helpful colleagues


12. Falling in love with the woman in the office next door (one such smart, friendly, helpful colleague)


13. Reacquainting myself with computer programming after being away from it for so long (I programmed my TRS-80 in Basic when I was in 6th grade, but then didn’t do any programming until my first job out of college)


14. Living in a group house in Dupont Circle (a great (great!) neighborhood in DC) for 6 years with 9 different roommates (some of whom are very dear friends)


15. Getting my Master’s degree (although going to school part-time at night with a full-time job during the day might actually be the antithesis of “cool”).


16. Spending a month in Japan visiting Megan (that smart, friendly, helpful woman in the office next door who was then my girlfriend (and is now my wife))


17. Finally buying a guitar for myself after years of yearning and playing other roommates/housemate’s guitars (and learning to make pretty sounds with it over the years has been nice too)


18. Moving into an apartment with Megan around the corner from the group house (i.e., still in Dupont Circle – that great neighborhood I keep yammering on about)


19. Traveling to Guatemala


20. Meeting Ira on 17th street and opening us up to yet another great group of friends for post-college, and post-group-house life


21. Getting engaged after a random Monday night that included a Spanish class, a kickball game, getting drunk and going dancing, a chipwich ice cream sandwich, and a chili dog


22. Getting married at my elementary school


23. Traveling to Costa Rica for our honeymoon


24. Being with my Nana when she died (not really a “cool” thing but an important event for me none-the-less)


25. Buying a house (in the suburbs (although, this can be (at times) rather soul crushing))


26. Getting a dog (!)


27. Starting a blog

And like Kassie says:

Hmmmm...

Is that a Velvet Underground song?
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If you’re reading this, you’re tagged and welcome to play along. There's just one rule: Number of "cool things" = Number of years with diabetes.