Keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the stars

Since starting this diabetes-themed blog over a year ago, the inclusion of musical references has been a recurring theme.

• Lyrics from the Beatles have appeared…
  …twice.
• I wove Meat Loaf into a teenage memory…
  …and considered swapping my disease for Bon Jovi’s.
• A Credence Clearwater Revival song led to my first DOC Meetup…
  …and running into a long-lost high-school classmate was like Peaches reuniting with Herb.
•  A catchy little ditty from Blues Traveler sang the praises of automatic data logging…
  …while a Melissa Etheridge lyric titled a post about my great-aunt’s funeral.
• Although I shamelessly made a mockery of Canada’s national anthem…
  …some boys from Kansas knew exactly how I managed to Carry On.

Even the very name of this blog is inspired by a Grammy Award-winner’s song title.

But today, after reading another blog post today on SurfaceFine, I thought of a song that I used to listen to when I needed inspiration. A song about all the stuff I had put off until tomorrow — a tomorrow that has yet to come.

“Don’t wanna wait ’til tomorrow,” chants Sammy Hagar in the first verse. “Why put it off another day?”

That made me nostalgic for that song’s music video which I looked up on YouTube. It’s really a great video, but one particular still-frame stuck in my mind:

That just about sums up the whole reason this blog exists. If the above message weren’t true, I wouldn’t be writing a diabetes blog. Nobody would. But I don’t write with the intent of someday disproving that message; rather, I write to acknowledge and discover the world that I live in. To share the joys and pains, discoveries and difficulties, of the life I’m living, with others who are doing the same. Right now.

Right now, we’re doing what we can with what we have.

Right now, we’re all in this together.

Right now, diabetes is creating  friendships.

Right now, we’re trying harder than we ever thought we could.

Right now, someone else is being diagnosed.

Right now, we’re calming someone’s nerves.

Right now, some form of art, poetry, or music keeps us smiling.

Right now, we’re finding strength in community.

Right now, we’re learning to be confident.

Right now, we admit that we’re scared … if even just a little bit.

Right now, we’re hoping for a breakthrough, but not relying on one.

If there is one vow that I make to myself; one resolution that I ask all of you to help me fulfill; it is that I don’t allow myself to get caught up in hype or speculation. That I don’t stop trying today expecting it will all get fixed tomorrow. That my feet stay firmly planted in reality: right here and now.

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The title of this post comes from the legendary musical countdown show host, Casey Kasem.