C.D. Taylor's Blog, page 3

Fighting Diabetes…Fight Club Style!!!

 

What Happens in Diabetes Fight Club, Doesn’t Stay in Diabetes Fight Club!

There are so many things out there that are bad for us. It’s rather frightening if you actually sit down and think about it. I’m not talking about the things like drugs, alcohol and nicotine that are plastered across the television from day to day either. I’m more concerned with what’s in our food that is literally killing us. Somehow food went from everyday nourishment to a silent killer. How did that even happen? How did something as basic as daily meals end up shoving us further into an early grave? It wasn’t something I really thought about until my Husband was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. We’d indulged in pretty much anything we wanted and didn’t have any repercussions with any of it. But everything has changed. What we once knew as carefree eating and snacking has become something we battle every single day. The scary reality of this is that I don’t know my family history, since I’m adopted. I don’t know what’s waiting around the corner for me. My Husband had a warning, his family history showed signs of the disease. In a way I suppose he could be considered lucky, if lucky is being told you have a terrible disease. Sure, it’s treatable but even the most expensive drugs can’t fix everything. They are like a Band-Aid being slapped on a gaping wound that should’ve had stitches. I watched as his health decline and became worried when he didn’t have the energy to get out of bed, his vision became blurry and his extremities started to tingle. Among other things. So what is one to do when a loved one is battling something like that?

At first, I was in some sort of denial. I honestly didn’t think it was that bad. I pushed his issue to the back of my mind and carried on with my own things. It wasn’t as though I didn’t care…okay, I really didn’t. But before you go thinking I’m some sort of heartless Cretan, let me go on. I love my husband, we have been through so much in our lives that I’m truly amazed we are still standing. When the ‘D’ word came into our lives, I thought it was his problem, not mine! I blamed the disease on the fact that his eating habits were so terrible that he deserved to deal with this. Now that I see that in writing I realize what a horrible person I was. I should’ve been more understanding. I should’ve done something to aid in his fighting this disease. But of course, I didn’t. When he tried to stay on the straight and narrow, I sat down next to him with a carton of ice cream. When he tried to bring healthy foods into our pantry, I rebelled like a teenager and brought boxes of snack cakes in behind him. I know now that I was slowly killing him. Let’s face it, human beings have a problem with will power. When we see something sugary and delicious, we can’t help but shove aside the stalk of broccoli and shove our faces full of chocolate cake and donuts. I’m the poster child of a ‘sugar addict’. In fact when I was a kid my parents would keep a sugar dish on the table for their coffee. I would sneak in and literally eat spoonfuls of the granulated goodness. Yeah, I was a bad girl…still am.

Lately though, I realized that I need to make a change. No, it’s not some new year’s resolution. I hate the idea of holding myself to some impossible endeavor such as that. But this is something I not only need to do for myself, I need to do it for my Husband if I want to celebrate more anniversaries, birthdays and holidays with him. Yeah, he has an amazing life insurance policy, but I would rather have him than the money. See, I’m not so cold hearted after all, am I?

Unfortunately my dear Doctor had a hand in this as well. Upon going in for a basic checkup, he informed me that I need to break my crippling addiction to sugar. It’s not as if I’m this total chubby wubby or anything. Yes, I have some extra pounds I could stand to lose, I’m fully aware of this. But reality is a biatch. So is the scale. Gaining 5 pounds over the holidays due to food and a new medication I’ve been on, was a slap in the fat ass for me. 5 pounds doesn’t seem like much when you think about it really. But when you hold a 5 pound bag of sugar at the grocery store, you understand the realness of those 5 pounds. Shocking! The news that I needed to cut out the bad junk was a blow to my perfectly constructed sugar routine. I looked straight in the face of my Physician and said “You do realize you’re giving me a death sentence, right?” He understood my humor in the situation, but after telling him about my Hubby with Diabetes, he became serious. It was kind of up to me to help change things in my household. Why? Well apparently I’m a determined, strong person…who knew?

So, today was the day. My Husband and I made a pact that we would begin a healthier lifestyle T-o-d-a-y. I just want to say that even though I am currently still alive at the end of Day 1, I feel like total shit. Yup, my body is screaming for a slice of chocolate cake, or the whole thing rather. It wants me to hop in the car and take a road trip to Hershey Pennsylvania and lick the doors of the factory. Well, my body can suck it! I’m taking it back from all of the bad stuff. I will be determined to get through this mess one way or another. I vow to not break down and find Twinkies to keep me happy. Nope, I will make this change because of one reason…to help save the life of my Husband. He’s been my cheerleader and support through so many things in my life, the least I can do is make a change to help keep him around to see our Son grow up. When I think about it in those terms, it doesn’t seem so hard really. I make small changes all of the time in my life, most are for myself. But this…this is for him. We will take on the beast and conquer it. We will slay the sugar dragon and hold its head in the air while celebrating.

It won’t be easy, nothing in life worth having ever is. But the way I see it, I can do this and save him, or I can forget about it all and watch as they lower his body into the ground…early. I won’t let that happen.

Today, is the beginning, so I won’t have to see his end.

I love you, Paul. We can do this!!!

C.D. Taylor

Resolve This, B!%*H!!!!

What is a New Year’s Resolution anyway? I know it’s a tradition where we resolve to make some sort of change and all, but some of the changes are so far-fetched and completely insane! The number one thing I’ve seen is people resolving to lose weight. Hmmm, I’m sure that’s a great goal and all, but I’d rather not spend my entire New Year thinking about how to reduce the size of my muffin top. I’ve heard people say they would like to become more financially responsible…here is some advice to help you with that one: stop spending your hard earned cash on dumb shit. I’m not really one to talk though, I blow money on underwear like a crack addict does on his habit. I wouldn’t want to get into a car accident and have out of season panties now would I? I suppose I’ll just be stuck with a fat ass and a drained checking account because those items are for sure not on my redeeming list for 2015. No, I like to choose things that have a little more meaning to me than that. What are they? Oh my dear, I thought you’d never freaking ask. But I have to warn you, my list is pretty outlandish. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.

I will try to not be so terrified of 4-way stops. (I said T-R-Y). Let’s face it, those things are a breeding ground for a nuclear powered panic attack. You pull up slowly, face down the other drivers and then start to piss yourself because who knows if it’s your turn or not. Yeah you’ve been there, it’s nothing shy of a national disaster in the making. But as with everything I will throw my best effort into not being mortified at the possibility of said action.

I will try to get over my aversion to spiders…scratch that. Screw those eight legged freaks! Show me one person on this planet that doesn’t get skeeved out by a silent, deadly creepy crawling bastard. Yeah, there isn’t such a person. If they tell you they are in no way afraid of spiders, they are either lying through their teeth, or you are speaking directly to the person that created them…Satan. And then you know he’s lying.

I will try to learn that yelling and screaming is not a valid form of human communication. I’m fully aware that my version of this act could be considered a language in which only dogs and bats communicate. It’s a rather high pitched, whistle sort of noise that has been known to crack windows and cause the mandatory replacement of a flat screen television. But when no one tends to listen, you feel the need to take things to the next level. My voice is one that could cause an entire MLB stadium to come to complete silence. But I will tone it down a notch and see if my results are formatted in a positive way. But I won’t hold my breath…screaming while doing so will cause a person to bust a blood vessel or something.

I will try to stop thinking that yoga pants are an acceptable slice of attire when I leave my house. I’m a writer, therefore I prefer to be lavished in comfort when I do my job. Typing away while sporting a formal gown and dangling earrings isn’t high on my list of priorities currently. Let’s face the truth here, yoga pants are the bee’s knees when it comes to comfort. Guys may not understand, but then again they think that scratching their junk and burping the alphabet is socially acceptable. By the way, I can only burp to the letter C. Somehow I get tickled and begin laughing and snorting. Anyway, I used to think that owning a pair of yoga pants made me part of the cool crowd. That somehow people would envision me stepping out of a yoga studio covered in a light sheen of sweat after my stretch-tastic workout. Now I really know what they think…”She’s a lazy mother#$ker!” It’s okay though, I earn the title honorably and I will sit back and enjoy my trophy while wearing my freaking yoga pants.

I will try to stop wearing my hair in that half pulled through pony tail, floppy bun thing. You know the one I’m talking about right? The one where you’re too damn lazy to take the extra half a second and pull the hair all the way through the circular piece of elastic? Yeah that’s the one! I tell myself I do this because I don’t like my hair touching my neck but why wouldn’t I just go ahead and take a freaking bic razor to my scalp and cut to the chase? Maybe because I’m not a 40 year old dude with a snake tattoo coiling around his neck and drive a Harley. I have tattoos by the way…and no, I don’t have a tramp stamp in case you’re wondering. I don’t go to the extra effort with the hair because in some f’d up frame of thinking, I believe this lazy hairstyle looks cool. Like I’m just so busy that I couldn’t possibly take the time to pull it through properly. Well, I’m calling bullshit on myself. I don’t wake up until after 12 P.M. most days, if I have to leave the house the general public is lucky I’m wearing a bra, and I refuse to walk the 50 yards to my mailbox when the guy shoves letters in there. All in all, I don’t make the effort because I don’t really care. There I said it! So sue me…please don’t, all I have is a few nice electronics and a kid. You can take the kid if you want but I will warn you…he smells.

 

So now you’ve been privy to my New Year’s Resolution list. If you noticed, I say the word ‘try’ quite a bit. Why is that? Well here’s my thoughts on it, I will try to do all of those things. But in all reality, as soon as the clock strikes midnight tonight, I’ll be wearing my yoga pants, my hair will be in a half pulled through bun and I will still get the shit scared out of me if a spider invades my personal boundaries.

I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year. Whatever 2015 holds for you, I’m sure you will grace through it with dignity and amazingness. Raise your glass of milk and say goodbye to 2014, and hello to 2015!!!!

C.D. Taylor

12 Days of Crosswords Contest…or is it 12 Days? Final Clue

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Book Sale!!!!

Don’t Miss This!

Now through the end of the year Our Second Chance and Left to Chance will be on sale for 99 cents each! Visit the “Things With Pages” page to get your copy now! Merry Christmas!!!

12 Days of Crosswords Contest: Clue #6