Tag Archives: holiday gratitude

Getting Down To Business… and Halloween

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There’s a line in a Kanye West song where Jay-Z raps,

“I’m not a businessman, I’m a business, man.”

I repeat that line to myself from time-to-time.  I love it because, whether you like rap or not, the line is quite simply, clever.  What a difference a comma makes (As does “comma”, vs “coma” as I just typed and am laughing).  I also like the line from my perspective as a business woman (I work in product design and branding).  I’m a business, (Wo)man.

When I was a little girl, carb counting with insulin:carb ratios didn’t exist (diagnosed in ’79) but instead there was the Exchange Program.  If you don’t know about this, I won’t bore you with the details.  If you lived through Exchanges, I won’t subject you to having to endure it again.  I will however say that carb counting and bolus ratios are certainly an improvement in both diabetes care and quality of life.

On Halloween, I would go trick-or-treating like every other kid in my neighborhood.  Looking back, it really was ALL about the costume (hell, it’s still ALL about the costume and I may or may not, occasionally wear a Pocahontas or Cleopatra wig in my apartment on really cold evenings because A. wigs are warm and B. those wigs are pretty amazing and make me feel like the coolest girl in school).

My parents would let me have some candy.  The whole “you’re diabetic, and can NOT have candy” thing wasn’t exactly part of my life BUT “you can have ONE piece of this tonight and then a piece tomorrow night” was. FYI – T1D didn’t even exist as a term in those days.

So my parents set me on a path that I believe started me as a business woman (no comma… yet).  When I came home from trick-or-treating, I would get down to work.  I had to set-up my store on the dining room table! I grew-up in a neighborhood with many houses, very close together, which of course meant LOTS of Halloween candy.  I’d empty my bag on the rarely used dining room table and start combining “like” items.  All snickers on one side, Reeses Peanut Butter Cups stacked in a pile, Milky Ways to the left, and so on.  My Mom made index cards with prices.  Everything cost $.05 or $.10 and every so often, a full size candy bar would be in the bag (say WHAT?!?) and that was $.25.  I would strategically position the candy and index card pricing (hello future merchandising) and then announce that my store was open for business.  My parents would enter and make their purchases.  I have to assume they gave my little brother some coins too because in later years, he became one of my customers too.  The older couple next door even shopped at my dining room table candy store.

I know today’s parents of T1D kids can bolus for candy and this whole story is incredibly out-of-date, but since I don’t have kids, happen to be painfully sentimental and am currently treating a low BG with Halloween candy, I think about this series of events.

I had a savings account as a little kid at a local bank and a Savings Passbook.  When I received money for ANYTHING, I had to put some of it in the bank.  Into MY saving’s account (I thought I was Richie Rich after my first Holy Communion which is pretty amusing now).  When My Mom or Dad had to go to the bank I would bring along my Savings Passbook.  My Dad would lift me up to hand the book to the teller who would stamp the “new” amount in my account.  I would deposit my Halloween candy sales AND then get to see how much I had accrued in interest since my last bank check-in.  I was fascinated.  Kids would run around in the bank.  Not me, suckers.  I was a kid with a Savings Passbook and I stood in-line with the adults.  My Dad explained that because I let the bank hold my money and that they used it (OMG, THEY USE MY MONEY), that they had to pay me to use it and that was “interest”.  Get out of town!  My money makes money?!?!

So here’s my thinking for Halloween.  Some creative thinking on the part of my parents along with my broken pancreas helped me learn about money.  And that’s where I get back to Jay-Z.  I am now a business(wo)man, but I am ALSO a business, man (well, woman).

My grandmother who passed away when I was 11 yrs old made this incredible costume.

My grandmother made this incredible costume.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Do Good, Feel Good

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Do Good, Feel Good is a phrase I say a lot.  I probably tweet it even more often.  It’s one of those phrases that just sticks in my head and plays over and over (kind of like The Cranberries’ Zombie or recently Kris Kross’ Jump.  I’m sorry if you now have these songs sticking in your brain too).  I digress.  Oops.  Yes, Do Good, Feel Good.

When I researched getting a CGM, specifically my Dexcom 7+, I started reading diabetes blogs in a mildly obsessive way.  That was my introduction to Kim from Texting My Pancreas.  Her blog led me to other wonderful diabetes blogs.  When I decided to bite the bullet (well in this case, let my boyfriend attempt to insert the Dexcom into the back of my arm), we watched her video twice possibly without blinking.  When I put the Dexcom in my arm the first time solo (I’ll admit it, I was scared), I watched that video two more times (this is the part where I must mention she has better gravity where she lives).  Anyway, Kim was a big help to me and I frequently refer to her in my diabetes mentoring program when questions about CGMs arise.

Kim started an “event” for the month of December called Give All The Things (you really should click that to see what I’m talking about).  I was immediately more smitten with her than I already was.   I won second place at the very beginning of the month of giveaways.  I won a small plush pancreas.  Oh you don’t know what a plush pancreas is?  Well you can see it here.  It made me laugh but it got me thinking about Kim’s pay-it-forward idea, an idea I try to incorporate into my own life.  I contacted Kim and told her a little about my jewelry design business and it’s connection to my fundraising walk teams, Alecia’s Stem Cells.  I offered to give her a pair of earrings for her giveaway.  Although it is not totally diabetes related, the jewelry IS made by a T1D (me) and 10% of the proceeds go to JDRF.  Kim wrote the sweetest note back.  It put a big goofy grin on my face.

Today Kim is giving away the earrings at Texting My Pancreas.  I saw the tweet about it this morning.  I immediately smiled.  What started as an overwhelming day still is overwhelming, but her post lightened me. Twice I have checked the comments (which is how you enter her contests) and both times I smiled more and “may” have had some extra moisture escape my eyes (must be allergies, I certainly am not crying again, right?).

If you have some time, check out the comments of some of her other Give All The Things posts.  It will immediately remind you how fortunate you are to be part of the DOC.

Do Good, Feel Good.  Thanks Kim.