David's Intro

by David Goldman

A little background on me. I’m married to Debbie for 28 years and we have a son named Lenny who’s graduating from college in a month. I work from home as a web designer, and I love it.

Underlying all of that is the fact that I was a diabetic from age one and a half until 41 when I had a successful pancreas transplant. I also  had a kidney transplant almost 25 years ago. That transplant was working great until a few months ago when it blew a gasket and stopped working. Now I need a tuneup. I have ESRD (end stage renal disease for you newbies) and go for dialysis three times a week. I'll be having another kidney transplant soon if everything goes according to plan. I said if everything goes according to plan because I'm superstitious and I'm covering my bases. 

So I had just gotten back in from walking Homer & Frannie  when the phone rang. The caller ID said it was my friend Roberta. I’ve known Roberta since 5^th grade. Her cousin Lee and I were best friends then, and he told me that Roberta liked me. To this day I don’t know if that was true. Lee, if you’re reading this I believe you were telling the truth. Probably. As a fifth grade boy my reaction was mixed. At 10 years old a boy has the “eww, a girl!” behavior colliding with the newly forming “hmm, a girl!” behavior. I decided that I liked her just at the same time she decided she didn’t like me. 

We’ve been friends ever since.

We went to high school and started college together. After college she moved away and eventually found southern California the place she wanted to be. Kind of like Eva Gabor on Green Acres. I’ve remained in Chicago my whole life. There were times we went for years without talking to each other, and other periods where we’d talk often. But the one constant was that when we did talk, it would be as if there had never been any interruption in the friendship. We could pick up a conversation about anything and go from there.

So, back to today, Roberta called and told me she had an idea. She said she thought I was funny. I think she meant it as a compliment. I have always thought she was funny and I told her so. “We should do something together”, she said. Her idea was for us to start a blog where we’d take turns writing, doing some videos, and whatever else we think might amuse or interest you, our new bff’s. 

I’ve often thought about writing something. My friends have urged me to write about life as a diabetic - its complications, how my life has been affected by it, and so on. When Roberta brought up the idea of doing a joint project, it really felt right. So, we’re going to do it and see what happens. All in all, some of it will be funny (we hope), some serious, and some a mixture of the two. Enjoy, and let us know what you think.

Roberta will do her own introduction. I am smart enough to not even attempt that one!