Today’s Topic:  Back for another year, let’s show everyone what life with diabetes looks like!  With a nod to the Diabetes 365 project, let’s grab our cameras again and share some more d-related pictures.  Post as many or as few as you’d like.  Feel free to blog your thoughts on or explanations of your pictures, or leave out the written words and let the pictures speak for themselves.

In yesterday’s post, I mentioned that I am trying to convert from a Windows user to a MacBook junkie.  It hasn’t happened yet. I am a MacWinBookDows person. I need them both.

Today I started with a photo of 52 crystals lined up in a row.  The crystals are the beautiful blue pieces that operate my Animas reservoirs. A long time ago I learned that I don’t need to change my reservoirs on the same schedule as my infusion sets. Each reservoir lasts me for about a week. So these 52 crystals represent a year of reservoirs for me.  A year of insulin. A year of life. These crystals represent the soldiers that keep me alive. Day after day. Reservoir after reservoir. Week after week.

They remind me of Chinese soldiers. All in a line. Powerful, but regimented. One, two, three, four, five. The Great Wall of China.

My kitchen has back splash tiles that measure 3.5 by 3.5. Add in the grout and each tile embraces 5 Animas crystals.10 tiles with 2 leftover crystals equals a year.

This morning I lined up 52 crystals. I cropped my photo and then used various filters in Pixelmator to show my Diabetes Soldiers in different costumes. I couldn’t figure out how to do the final cropping on my MacBook, but Photoshop on my Windows Desktop delivered my final photo: Diabetes Soldiers, Diabetes Soldiers Black & White, Diabetes Soldiers Sepia, Diabetes Soldiers Green, Diabetes Soldiers Blurred & Colored, Diabetes Soldiers Bumped, Diabetes Soldiers Vortex and Colored, Diabetes Soldiers Inverted.

Diabetes Soldiers. One, two, three, four, five. Animas reservoirs keep me alive. One, two, three, four, five. Insulin keeps me alive.

Every day.

Thank-you.