The Gift of Love - The Best Gift of All

The Gift of Love - The Best Gift of All

This is the fourth of a planned three blogs series exploring the gifts we receive as members of our TUDiabetes community. In this season when we give and receive gifts, I want to explore the gifts we receive because of membership in this community. The fourth gift and the best of all is the gift of love.


Perhaps the one overriding thing we do as a community is love each other. I could tell of this love in a million different ways, but the way we best describe it is to experience it ourselves. As a reminder love is defined in part as this:

1. “unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another

2. strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties” (“Love,” 2014)

Though one can define a term, you cannot explain something so nebulous. Love means something different to all of us. For me it means a place where I am comfortable and cared for. I know when I come into TUDiabetes I was welcomed, and accepted no matter my blemishes. For me that is love; and that is what I was so desperately looking for when I found TUDiabetes. Here I found connected, caring people. It actually started on day one when Marie welcomed me to the community. She was my first and even though we have never met one of my dearest friends. It started with a pleasant greeting, something I think we do better than any other web site out there.

It extends further, because here on this site I can freely admit my failures and report my successes. I do this knowing that both will be accepted and celebrated. It was here that I first admitted to others that I went over 20 years without seeing a doctor, or that I suffer from chronic depression or that I want to write (no matter how bad my writing might be) which makes this a special place. I found love when I told of my mother’s struggle with diabetes, or the pure joy of laughter at diabetes and other ills. To me this is love, and it is the love I found here.



This is a short blog, but make no mistake love is the greatest gift we receive as members of this piece of heaven on the internet. I hope you use this love wisely. You can do this by sharing concerns, asking questions, helping others, and yes most important in my mind laughing a lot. You do it when you share videos, and pictures, stories and questions. This is the greatest gift of our community, here you are loved, now I ask that you love others just as you are loved here.

Sub note: The fourth of three blogs? I know someone is thinking why a fourth of a three blog series? The reason is twofold. First yesterday (December 24, 2014) I had a drug treatment for RA. As I write this my blood sugar is 258, I am using double basal insulin, and doubling most bolus’s. But it is down a little and I hope today I will get it under control. The RA drug cocktail is full of steroid’s and some glucose. Hence the large spike of blood sugar and it creates a terrible hangover effect, the day after. Saying that I could write today was really out of the question. Yet I find myself writing and felling pretty good despite the high blood sugar.


On a second note I adore the book series The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy(Adams). This book series is described as a trilogy in five parts since there were five books, six if one counts the short story at the end of book five. If Douglas Adams can write five books in a trilogy, then I can write 4 blogs in a series of 3. Here is a shout-out to the one science fiction writer that I never tired of. Mr. Adams sadly passed away May 11, 2001. No doubt had he lived we would have a sixth or seventh book in this trilogy. Douglas Adams rocked.

References

Adams, D. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

Love. (2014). The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved December 25, 2014, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/love

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rick

Love, understanding, respect, most important
We get all of that on tud

Rick, thanks. I hope that in your 4 or 5 part trilogy, we can also pay homage to Manny and the amazing staff :) I truly wish you the best with your RA treatments ...dang, that's a helluva cocktail!