Poignant words spoken by the character Q in the final episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. But it is a true quote, because all things do eventually end. That’s why today’s blog is the final blog of 10 that I’ll be posting for a while.
As I sit here on the beach at Surfside, a place my family has frequented for nearly 40 years now, it seems only appropriate that this would be the setting for my final entry in this tale.
“It’s been a long road, getting from there to here,” as the lyrics of the short-lived Star Trek: Enterprise series once had for the opening credits. I always thought that was a unique way to start a new series, way back when. It certainly has been a long road for me on this journey of living with diabetes. Now encompassing 3 years since I first receive the phone call that ill-fated morning on a rainy, March day. But that day spawned something different me that has resonated throughout the years since.
It's never been about the destination, but the journey. Going to the beach is always fun, in fact more fun sometimes that reaching the beach altogether. The camaraderie with family and friends, the laughs, the blessings of being with those you love cannot be overstated. That’s what makes a journey so great. Of course, there are sad moments, angry moments, scary ones too. A journey is never one way or the other. It ebbs and flows just like the tides, washing in and out.
When I think back about this journey, I sometimes don’t think of it as a linear timeframe. I think more about the unknown possibilities of existence. What if?... is another favorite show of mine from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The decisions we make can, and probably do, create alternate universes where something different happened there from the reality we know. I sometimes wonder where my life would be right now at the A1c of 10 never occurred? My most common thought goes to the decision to go to Employee Health for what ended up being the final time. What if I had chosen to skip again, like I had in 2019 and 2020? Of course, another possibility comes to mind as this was the last employee check-up provided by AnMed Health. The hospital ceased doing birthday check-ups on employees in 2022. So, what if that had happened a year earlier? Would I have had greater complications that would have been irreversible? Would I even be alive today?
You can what if yourself into a quandary if you allow it. But that is where faith comes into play. Jesus said, “Don’t worry about tomorrow, there’s enough worry today.” He’s perfectly right. What happened occurred the only way it could for me, from a more linear perspective. It was the story of my life and the direction it was meant to go. The reason? It led me closer to God.
So, over the past 15 months I’ve embrace the path that Jesus set me on to tell the tale of this journey. It’s been a wonderful experience filled with pitfalls and possibilities ripe with promises of a joy and hope. I’ve been able to share how my battle living with diabetes has shaped me into the man I am now. How COVID can wreak havoc in ways we might always believe possible, but ultimately learn are true. How a person can change their fortune by simply having faith in something greater than themselves. I’ve had many blessings over the past 3 years that have helped me greatly with my body, my mind, and my spirit.
As I sit here typing, sand between my toes, I ponder another what if. I remember thinking this past fall would I ever go to the beach again? Last year, of course, was the issue with Afib and the fear, anxiety it caused me taking months to recover from. I was truly scared to travel anywhere again for months. What if I had allowed that fear to grip me completely? I was so petrified of driving, at times I was afraid to simply drive to work. Several times I had to call my wife or my mom to talk me through an issue I was having driving my truck. I was that scared of what had happened. I didn’t want to do anything to make it happen again.
This issue with Afib could have set me back greatly, had I let it. But, again, God showed me the way through that ordeal. Now, I’m sitting on a beach with my family, enjoying the breeze and the waves, feeling like a kid again. So many times I have come to this beach with Maw Maw and Paw Paw, my parents, Niney, Nick, Travis, my in-laws Jim and Brenda, and of course Leslie and our kids, Abby and Charlie. There’s truly never been a better place to be for me. I remember the first time I came to the beach at the condo at Surfside, in December 1986. I was 9 years old, and this place looked massive. But it was so beautiful, I couldn’t have imagined wanting to be anywhere else. Many times we have come here over the past 38 years. The condo has endured a lot in that time, between storms, winds, rain, high tides, and hurricanes, but it still goes on. The outside colors have changed, but the structure remains the same. The furniture is new, but the atmosphere never grows old. The familiar sounds of the past echo through the halls of the new.
That’s the journey that matters the most. Cherishing those moments that come and pass, with hope for the future. In the summer of 1990, Back to the Future III came out that had a wonderful statement from Doc Brown at the end:
That statement epitomizes the future for us all, and especially the future of my life living with diabetes. I may never do away with the condition, but I can certainly learn to live with it. Over the past year and half I have been living well with diabetes with A1cs 5.6 or less. Doing that helps me greatly, and hopefully will guide me towards a future filled with prosperity knowing I’m doing all I can to help myself and others. That’s always been the point of this blog, to share my journey with all of you in the hopes it will help someone else through theirs. So, whether you are working through diabetes, anxiety, Afib, a heart attack, back concerns, a cancer diagnosis, all of these things can be navigated equally the same through the thoughts and feelings I’ve shared with you. Because at the center of it all is Jesus, helping me understand my place in this world so I can carry on forward to the future He has set.
With that, I hope you all have a wonderful week yourselves, coming on the heels of Father’s Day. Love those around you with all your heart, all your mind, and all your soul. I know my journey is nowhere near complete, but much like Star Trek: The Next Generation, “All good things must come to an end.” As this blog ends, my journey continues. Perhaps sometime in the future I’ll return with more stories to tell of the journey. But for now I want to focus on that which matters most in the image below.
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