Turning 40 & The End of the World

Okay, so I have set this blog post to publish at one minute after midnight on December 21st, which according to the Mayan calendar is supposedly when the world will end. Ironically, they picked my 40th birthday to be the end of the world, go figure. I guess if you are reading this, then… well, we made it. The fact that I’ve lived to be 40 will probably surprise a lot of people (myself included), especially given the fact that I almost spent this birthday in the hospital. Reflecting on this past year I can easily say that this has been the best and worse year of my life. I remember back in January we were sitting on Donna’s hospital bed getting ready to pray before we went to sleep (she was literally fighting for her life after we lost our daughter), I remember telling her that the year had nowhere to go but up from that point. Little did I know that those words would ring so true just a fews months later when a miracle happened and baby Spencer came into our lives. God I love that kiddo.

A few weeks ago I was handed the diagnosis of type 2 Diabetes, something that I never saw coming, totally blindsided in the literal sense of the word “blind”, a few days ago it looked like my vision was on it’s way out when I couldn’t even manage to read emails on my phone. Learning that you are diabetic a few days before your 40th birthday, a birthday where things are supposed to start heading downhill anyway, would probably freak most people out, it did me. I’ve always tried to look at things differently and make the most out of them (by-product of backing myself into a corner too many times and having no choice), so I took one glance at my precious boy and decided that I was fixing to get into the nastiest cage match w/ diabetes that anyone had ever seen and that’s exactly what I’ve done. Not only has my diet changed completely, but I’m also doing crazy things like exercising and actually taking care of myself. My motivation is the fact that when my son hits grade school and starts playing pee-wee sports (if he wants to), I’m going to be at least 10 years older than each of his classmates parents. To be the kind of parent that I want to be, I’ve got to get myself into shape.

I’m happy to report that after two weeks out of the hospital, my blood sugar levels have not only been stable, but they’ve also been under 200 (which was our goal). Yes, I’m having to treat the disease w/ medications and prick my finger about a dozen times a day but I look at all of this as motivation to do something amazing, and that’s beat this disease. Now that my amazing eye doctor has got my vision figured out, I feel like I have one foot on the neck of this disease and the other one aimed at it’s ass. (pardon the language, that’s cage-fighter talk for going in for the kill). One thing related to the whole diabetes / wellness thing that consumes my bandwidth these days is an announcement that I’m going to be making after the first of the year about a special product / challenge that I’ve agreed to be a part of that I’m really looking forward to. Stay tuned for more on that after the first of the year. In the meantime, I hope each and every one of you has an awesome Christmas and a blessed new year! Thanks so much to everyone that has prayed for me over the past 40 years, again, I’m just as surprised as you are that I made it this far…

In closing, we had a very special guest stop by the house this evening to visit Spencer, and I figured I would share the link to the photos here for those of you that are interested…

If that face isn’t enough to make you want to fight for another 40 years on this earth I don’t know what will. I can’t put into words how much I love this child. God is soooo God, and I’m an extremely blessed guy!!