LifeAfterDx--Diabetes Uncensored

A internet journal from one of the first T1 Diabetics to use continuous glucose monitoring. Copyright 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016

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Location: New Mexico, United States

Hi! I’m William “Lee” Dubois (called either Wil or Lee, depending what part of the internet you’re on). I’m a diabetes columnist and the author of four books about diabetes that have collectively won 16 national and international book awards. (Hey, if you can’t brag about yourself on your own blog, where can you??) I have the great good fortune to pen the edgy Dear Abby-style advice column every Saturday at Diabetes Mine; write the Diabetes Simplified column for dLife; and am one of the ShareCare diabetes experts. My work also appears in Diabetic Living and Diabetes Self-Management magazines. In addition to writing, I’ve spent the last half-dozen years running the diabetes education program for a rural non-profit clinic in the mountains of New Mexico. Don’t worry, I’ll get some rest after the cure. LifeAfterDx is my personal home base, where I get to say what and how I feel about diabetes and… you know… life, free from the red pens of editors (all of whom I adore, of course!).

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Kilmer Kindness, Act 2

So last Thanksgiving, Val Kilmer bought me a turkey. This year he did not, thank God.



Not that it wasn’t a great turkey, and not that I didn’t enjoy eating it, but I just felt there were others whose need was so much greater than my own. So it was that whole joy-mixed-with-guilt-thing that I don’t deal with all too well.

Mr. K, however, got a lot of un-deserved grief for his trouble, from closed minded individuals who said things like “well, he only did that because he’s running for governor.”

Well, here it is T-day again, and I’m pretty sure he’s not running for governor, and yet my conference room is full of turkeys. And stuffing. And rolls. And potatoes. And onions. And pies. And…

Well you get the idea.

Mr. K bought complete Thanksgiving meals for 25 of our most needy families. More correctly, he bought 25 complete Thanksgiving meals for the clinic’s 25 most needy. I’m betting a few church parish halls and community centers are full of boxes of food and rows of turkeys too.

Between patients I slipped back to the conference room to check out this year’s boxes, and while I was there a woman and the cutest little rag-a-muffin you’ve ever seen came in. I wanted to photograph her, but for one-million-and-one legal reasons I could not, would not, did not. So I will paint you a picture of her with words instead.

She’s small in height, in bone structure, and in muscle mass. She’s probably six or seven year’s old, but looks four or five. Not having enough food most of the year will do that to you. Yes, we are in the U.S.A., and yes, I see this everyday. She’s not fully malnourished--but she’s a skinny little thing--the wind would probably blow her down the highway like a tumble weed.

Her clothes are dirty and torn, her hair is long and tangled, her shoes are too big, and her face really needs washing. She does not have a jacket. But the ear-to-ear smile on her face and the joy in her eyes when she sees the boxes of food are perfect.

This smile has been brought to you by Val Kilmer.

So thanks Mr. K.

Thanks from the clinic. Thanks from the people of our villages.

And thanks from a dirty little rag-a-muffin with the perfect smile.

3 Comments:

Blogger Crystal said...

What a picture. :-D

Happy Thanksgiving!

9:11 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Happy Thanksgiving, Wil. I agree - what a picture!

Do I get a review copy of your new book? ;)

Yours,
AmyT

10:53 PM  
Blogger Living Life...Boomer Style said...

Once again, I love that you share your Val stories. Blessings to you all. Shelli Carlisle
Val Kilmer the Real Deal.com

5:10 PM  

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