I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1986, at the age of seven, and I didn’t have much community to speak of until I was in my 20s. I started a blog in 2005 that I wrote until I turned 40 yrs old, and during the course of writing that blog, I met so many people with diabetes. I made actual friends. And I think my health, at least the mental health part, is so much better for it. Yeah, I hear about technology and all the new developments through community, but that moment when someone understands This Thing in full because they live their version of it … it’s magical every time.

My diabetes diagnosis anniversary (aka my diaversary) is in the fall. It’ll turn 39 years old.

Really nice to meet you.