ever been asked to describe yourself in three words? maybe a friend asked you? maybe you were in an interview? filling out a graduate school application? perhaps you felt like you needed to be really creative, and you knew that just listing ‘creative’ wasn’t creative enough. you wanted to make the reader laugh, so that you didn’t have to write ‘humorist’, or ‘funny’. maybe you wanted to let the reader know that you were a thinker, so you started thinking about ways to show you are a thinker without listing ‘thinker’

i was working in the dhf office today, when mike lawson and i started to brainstorm ideas for a new shirt. i can’t give it away, but know that the base of the shirt design has to do with the theme, ‘describe yourself in three words’ we were just listing character traits or attributes that individuals with diabetes MIGHT use to describe themselves.

here is some of our list:
leader, eclectic, grower, creative, awake, knowledgable, driven, introspective, body-positive, charismatic, articulate, inquisitive, ambitious, hard-working, daring, persistent, genuine, tenacious, reliable, quirky, electric, fun, humorous, etc.

here is something that didn’t make our list:
diabetic

diabetic nor diabetes made our list. we were using it elsewhere, but i just have to point it out that as a character trait, it didn’t come up.

two PWD’s, listing character traits and ‘diabetes’ was forgotten.

oh my sweet potato pie. really?

i have the word ‘diabetic’ tattooed on me! i take pride in it.

at the friends for life conference i told my friend dani p. that if i could go back to when i was 11 and be given the option, “diabetes or no diabetes” that i would walk the same road i have traveled. and i still feel this way.

i would. i would do it again in a heart beat. seriously! i would.

maybe we didn’t put diabetes in there because it isn’t, as is, a character descriptive word.

but heck, i want it to be!!!

being diabetic means being strong in the face of adversity, it means always having at least one full time job, it means membership in the most incredible community there ever was.

being diabetic means being empowered. it means being introspective. it means having ‘excellent troubleshooting skills’

being diabetic means possessing patience and compassion. it means connecting to strangers and offering understanding.

being diabetic means being creative. it means finding new ways to do old things. it means making the most out of crappy circumstances.

being diabetic means being funny and knowing how to laugh at the parts of life that suck.

being diabetic means a badass fun crazy-beautiful amazing awe-inspiring awesome ball of awesomeness.

i am diabetic.

and i AM all those things. i get to be all of those things by default if i choose to accept them into my ‘three words to describe me’

and um, heck yes.

i accept.

my three words:

driven diabetic wanderer

what are yours?