Ahhhhhhhh!!!!

What a big week: great week, crazy week, full on week! So happy - So tired! I've been MIA again on account of it being one of THE biggest weeks in the arts for the region. The Cairns Indigenous Arts Fair (CIAF) kicked off, which also marks the beginning of Cairns Festival - a pumping time of year for us North Queenslanders (and very welcome visitors!). All around the city, there's something on, all the time for a full month. But that's not where the crazy goodness started... as many of you know - and have contacted me about (THANK YOU :):):)), Australian Diabetic Living Magazine included an article about my blog in their September/October Issue! Needless to say, I was extremely excited to pick up their latest mag and am very proud they chose to include me in their pages.

Something else just as exciting is the feedback I've had form readers and fellow diabetics. Thank you for your support and encouragement. It means the world to me, and I'm very happy to share this journey with you.

Its been an interesting week with ups and downs - not too many lows or highs though (WOO to that!). I still feel majorly tired, but am optimistic that even non diabetics in similar roles to mine this week are feeling the same! There were a couple 'diabetic' moments of note this week though. One happened on Thursday night, at the CIAF opening night - a night of all nights the visual arts, with national and international delegates flying in for the event. I had been asked to assist at the entry with ticketing and after having worked all day (and knowing I still get a slightly foggy mind, after all that's happened, when I'm tired) I had intended on being a 'wristbander'. Well the universe changed that plan! Last Sunday, I cut my finger badly enough to result in a bloody tea towel and multiple band aid changes before Monday...of course being a diabetic, this hadn't healed well enough not to still need a band aid by Thursday. So not wanting to touch people with my finger, I was given the job of checking names off at the door for the opening, as all the who's who arrived. Ughhhhh, this is where is started... people streaming to the table, and multiple lists for media, sponsors and VIPS, I thought I was getting through pretty well ...   t h e n    i t    h a p p e n e d  ... a coworker said the name of the next person into my ear, and without looking up to check, I crossed the name off, grabbed the name badge held it it up to the guest... and very over enthusiastically called a high-up, State Government official the wrong name. Cue frozen, wordless Jess face. Everyone else looked for aeroplanes or suddenly had another job to do which required them to turn around, reach to the floor or run in an opposite direction. Thanks guys!!! Why is this a diabetic moment?!? Well if I had of healed like a 'normal person' I would of been smiling and wrist banding...not checking names after already working for 10 hours aaaaand I also thought that if I didn't get tired so easily, I also probably would have looked up...not screwed up! After swallowing my pride and not sleeping well that night (yeah great, just what I needed!!), I found the official the next day and apologised/tried to make light of it... well at least they might remember me now!! Stupid band aids haha.

A day or so later, I realise I shouldn't be so tough on myself to be perfect, to everyone, all the time. No one can do that. Its that 'Diabetes Drive', the need to prove that I can still do everything all the time, that I think can sometimes actually lead to tripping up, At the end of the day, I'm not 'not normal', I just have diabetes, that's my 'thing', the 'card I've been drawn'. Someone without diabetes could easily have done that same thing, and I was too quick to get down on myself for tripping up because I have diabetes. It's OK to make mistakes.