HBCE Blog Gallery: Lemonade Life
Your Name
Allison Blass
Email
amblass@gmail.com
Website
http://www.lemonade-life.com
Description of Blog
The adventures of a bicoastal twentysomething with diabetes.
Describe yourself
22-year-old born and raised Oregonian who just switched coasts after graduation. Living just outside New York City. Diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 8, diabetes advocate since age 15. JDRF Children’s Congress delegate, founder of Diabetes Teen Talk. Currently chairing the planning committee for the first adults w/ type 1 diabetes conference.
Favorite Tags
blogging, diabetes, family, health, humor, identity, JDRF, Jersey, news, NYC, photos, pump, The O.C., touristing, work
Why do you blog?
I blog because it’s the fastest and most convenient way to be a diabetes advocate and a diabetes educator. With my blog, I can tell my story, I can give feedback, I can promote community, I can explain different things going on. It helps me fulfill my mission of making lemonade out of the lemons in my life (namely, diabetes).
Why should readers read your blog?
Well, I’m kind of a big deal… Honestly, I just like to talk about my life and maybe what I’m going through are things other people are going through, and if that’s the case then hopefully we can learn from each other.
Favorite Post
I was in Washington Square Park last weekend with my friend Tara (some of you may know her from Diabetes Self-Management), her boyfriend and a few of her friends, and my cousin.
I was sitting on the grass, sipping a Mango bubble tea, laughing at embarassing stories and watching all the New Yorkers (and tourists) mingle about in the park.
Jazz music played in the background, juxtaposed by a conservative Christian choir.
The fountain was in full bloom.
And I thought to myself how incredibly lucky I am to have the life that I do.
It’s not very often, I think, that we really stop to reflect on everything we have and everything we’ve experienced and everything we hopefully get to experience.
The past two months have been challenging – emotionally, physically, financially.
From finding a car in three days to starting a new job while living in a hotel to moving three thousand miles and having to practically start over again, I slowly realized that I have what I really need.
There are people all over the country who support me and encourage me. Complete strangers who out of the blue email me to tell me I’m a worthwhile person.
I have a new family that loves me even though they barely know me, including an older cousin whom I fully intend to adopt and torture like the older brother I never had. He’s an only child and I have almost twenty years of sibling experience.
I have a cool job with even cooler people – and I’m not just saying that because they read this. I laugh everyday and it feels so good, especially when I have to go home to an empty apartment.
I live next to a city that has more opportunities than I could ever dream of taking advantage of, and enough material to satisfy my burgeoning obsession with photography for years.
It’s beautiful when you feel like you’re a part of something just by being.
My dad said to me the other night, “Looks like you’re living the life you always wanted.”
“Almost,” I replied.
I never want to feel like I’m finished. I always want there to be something next.
I never want to lose my momentum.
Or my faith that I’ll always be exactly where I need to be, with the people who need and want me.
Reader Review
Allison writes an enthusiastic and informative blog for anyone who wants to know more about diabetes. She does a wonderful job of talking about living life to the full despite diabetes. And she also posts frequently about diabetes-related information and sites that most readers wouldn’t normally come across.
Allison has also created the extremely useful Diabetes OC blog that maintains a useful list of diabetes-related blogs. She’s a great ambassador of diabetes to the world.
You owe it to yourself to make sure her blog is high on your diabetes blogroll. – Bernard Farrell of Bernard’s Diabetes Blog.
Editor’s Comment
This blog submission is a byproduct of Amy’s feature of our community in Diabetes Mine. I am thrilled to have a growing community of diabetes bloggers. This is a very difficult disease, and as a physician I was very happy to have so many great diabetes sites like Lemonade Life where diabetics can link up and help each other.