Savannah Trip Part 3 - Finis

Sunday. Our last day in Savannah.

Slept in, crept down for breakfast again, did not nearly set the toaster on fire or knock down the serving spoons (but I sheepishly avoided the glares of the lady worker in charge of the continental breakfast), and got ready for the day before Josh and I checked out at 11. Truck packed, we piled back into our seats and ventured into the heart of the city one final time. It was a little heartbreaking, really!

I didn't want to leave.

"So, sweetheart, where are we going?" Josh asked. My head swirled with ideas, and finally one surfaced - "Forsyth Park!" I tweeted back. I was still a little peeved that the lady on the haunted tours had told us that Forsyth Park was where all the Yellow Fever victims were buried, but I still wanted to see the gorgeous stretch of land and felt our Savannah trip to be truly incomplete without it. We arrived, found a super-convenient parking spot, and began our walk hand in hand. The park was indeed beautiful - old oaks canopied the walkways and the park was green, lush and gorgeously landscaped. It was a picturesque day, too - Josh and I took pictures in front of the statues and the big white fountain, explored the amphitheater and a little walled garden, and - my favorite - walked the perimeter of the park so that we could get a glimpse of all of the old, incredible, lovely houses. We gazed at them all longingly, and though I was coming down with an unfortunate head cold at this point and losing my voice, it seemed that I spent every last precious word I could speak on how beautiful each and every house was.

"Baby, oh, look at that one!"
"Oh, isn't it amazing?"
"We could buy that one... it's for sale..."
"Let's own a bed and breakfast in Savannah!"
"That... is the prettiest house I have ever seen."
"Look! Their address says 13 1/2!"

Josh said I was cute.
After Forsyth we crawled back into the car for one last adventure. Josh is really into the card game Magic, and we had seen a card shop called Savannah Comics on Friday that he felt like checking out. So after driving around and getting lost once, we found the tiny shop off Liberty Street, parked (I'd like to take the time to gloat that we did not spend a penny on parking this entire trip - HUGE accomplishment) and walked to the store. When we got there, a young man was sitting on a bench under the store awning. "It's still closed," he said. "But it should be open at one. Sometimes he's late getting here." I didn't pay much attention to the young man, and to bide time we decided to get lunch at a bustling restaurant called J. Christophers. It really seemed like the place to be! It was packed. Josh and I got seating at the front, and what I could taste of my food was good (it's dreadfully hard to taste with a stuffy nose). Blood sugar was OK last I'd checked an hour ago, I'd had an apple then and bolused and so I didn't check for lunch and bolused again. When we'd finished and paid we walked back towards the card store and found it open. We walked inside, looked around, and looked at the back, but didn't see any Magic cards; just comic books mostly. I finally saw some up front and pointed them at to Josh, all the while feeling funny.

Can't be, I thought. Just ate.
But I knew it - I noticed that I was getting better and  better at sensing my body. Both lows and, recently, highs. Like, scary good. It was like a super power. And my meter confirmed it - I was dropping at 60, and madly scolded myself under my breath for not checking at lunch and for bolusing without checking while I was low!
I sighed, frustrated, and walked to the front with Josh. Finding a chair, I melted down into it, fishing a granola bar out of my bag.

"You look so excited to be here," a familiar voice said to me. I looked up to see the face of the young man that had been on the bench earlier, a small grin on his face. He was, apparently, an employee, and he was facing me from the right. I said, my voice monotone due to my being used to explaining my Diabetes to people that didn't know, or didn't care, or both; "I have low blood sugar. I'm Diabetic."

And what happened next completely shocked me. The man turned and I caught a glimpse of his left side. My mouth gaped open, because out of his pants pocket a thin, transparent tube curled and snaked up under his shirt.

"Me too." he said softly. 

I was in awe. I'd never even met another Type 1 Diabetic in the "real world" before. At the endo, yeah, but never at school, or at work, or anywhere... and yet in this tiny card shop in the middle of a big city, that we had walked into by chance, here was a man who knew each and every up and down about what I went through and could name my troubles to the tee. I gazed at him, our eyes locked in understanding before we launched into conversation about what life was like with a pump, or insurance situations, stupid things people said to us, our pet peeves about Diabetes, diagnosis date, number of times in DKA, type of insulin used, etc. 

"Baby! Look! He's Diabetic too," I said, turning to Josh, even happier than I had been back in the candy store. 

"He is too," he man motioned to the man at the counter. "Type 2. Insulin Dependent," the man at the counter said. 

Josh was so happy for me. We talked about the pump for at least a solid 30 minutes, and I truly enjoyed listening to what the young man (he was only a few years older than me) had to say about the pump, as I had never seen one in person and never talked with someone in real life about what it was like. I have to say, skeptical as I am about getting a pump, he definitely gave me a lot to think about. And more than that, I just truly felt as though this Diabetic man was a gift from god himself; one of the best things about this entire trip, in fact, and that's saying a lot. 

Finally it was time to go, and we bid each other goodbye. It struck me as we were leaving the shop that I didn't even know this man's name, but it didn't matter to me and I don't think it mattered to him either. Names or no, we were kindred spirits, and this man gave me a powerful reminder that in my struggle I am never, ever alone. That God uplifts and strengthens us and never gives us more than we can handle. And I was so overcome by happiness again I felt as though I could cry tears of joy. 

"It made me so happy to see how happy meeting him made you," Joshua said, and I smiled at him. "And you?" I asked him. "Are you happy? Did you have a good time on vacation?"

Josh smiled back. "The best," he said. 

We spent the rest of the day braving I-16, and visiting friends in Statesboro. At around 10 PM as we left Statesboro, Joshua kindly drove the whole way back as I dozed on his lap, my cold having gotten the best of me at that point and totally knocking me out. But even the cold couldn't put a damper on my happiness, because I had visited Savannah with the man I love more than anything in the world, swam in the ocean, eaten the best piece of candy I'd ever had, gotten my fill of all the pretty sights my senses could hold, and met a person who understands everything I'm going through.

Who knows? Maybe he'll even read this someday. If not, thank you, either way. I'm so glad I met you, because you lifted a weight off my shoulders that I don't even think I'd realized I had. The weight of having never met someone with my illness, of feeling alone - that feeling isn't completely gone,  but thanks to you, I don't feel so alone at all, not anymore. 

Savannah Trip - Part Two!

The next morning, after sleepily crawling downstairs to the continental breakfast, accidentally almost setting the toaster on fire (How was I supposed to know that you can't put a whole bagel in those open faced toasters?!) and knocking over the serving spoons (I blame my clumsiness on the Diabetes) I scurried back to the room and Josh and I got all our day stuff together to go to Tybee Island.

Note to self: DO NOT WAIT UNTIL GETTING TO THE BEACH TO PUT TANNING OIL OR SUNSCREEN ON. The design of your shirt will be seared onto your body if you are fair-skinned.

Joshua and I loaded our bags with towels, drinks, 4 different "in case of low" snacks, suntan oil, and changes of clothes. The drive to Tybee took about 40 minutes and was pretty stop-and-go. There was a lot of traffic, but I had to admit it was pretty picturesque to see the marshes and the gorgeous blue sky - especially after days of rain back in Macon.

When we got to Tybee we were greeted, as my grandma stated quite literally, by "the land of the endless parking meters". We drove for at least an hour trying to find parking, failed, and had to drive about 1-2 miles out to the post office just to find an empty space. On the bright side, we were treated to the tour of local houses and hangouts... on the bad side, gas was $3.30. And we didn't escape the lengthy sojourn to the beach once we parked either... then, the hike began. Part of me thinks the 12 miles hike up the mountain that year at Summer camp was easier. We could only carry the necessities in my purse, and we kept walking, and walking, and walking, trying to tell ourselves that lunch and the beach was "right around the next corner", or the next, the next, the next.... there were no shady trees, no soothing bird tweets, no trickling creeks. Oh no. Pavement, searing sunlight, traffic, and don't forget those parking meters.

Suddenly all of me shook, and I tested, blearily seeing the 36 mg/dL on the screen, peeling away the granola bar wrapper, eating it in about 1.5 bites and stumbling on, leaning on Josh for support. The cognitive thought in my head faded, replaced by zombie-mode. My "beach, beach, beach" chant echoing in my head soon turned into "lunch, lunch, lunch", and it must have been thirty minutes later - but really felt like two hours in "Tybee time" and a miniature downpour - that we finally made it to a restaurant. I told Josh, out of desperation, that I would literally eat at the first restaurant I saw that was at least semi-reputable looking. So we ate there. I don't remember the name, I remember it being overpriced and tiled like my old house back in Sanford, but the food was pretty OK and it did the trick. I didn't feel shaky anymore, probably because I ordered a salad and ended up eating half of Josh's steak fries when I tested and saw that I was still at 50, and we proceeded on towards the beach from there. As soon as we reached the sand we shed our shoes and set out under the pier and to our left in order to find a less overcrowded plot of sand on which to lay our bag.

So far our trip seems like it might have been miserable, but don't get me wrong. The moment my feet touched the sand, it was all totally worth it.

We found a place, which was amazing considering Tybee was the most crowded beach I'd ever seen (I guess in FL we have a lot larger of a choice), and we wasted no time in shedding our shirts and pants and running to the water. The water was incredible! It was warm, and salty, and pure perfection. Back at home it always seemed like the water was too cold (I'm a wimp when it comes to cold water, yeah), but here it was just right. Like, wow. Josh and I laughed and ran and tripped and dove into the waves, swimming out and making a game of leaping over the waves as they charged toward us, threatening to drag us back towards shore and sometimes sending us tumbling underwater and scrambling to hold onto our bottoms. The day passed away while we screamed and paddled and vigilantly watched our bag from the water, and I felt like a little kid again.

When we had swallowed enough salt water to pickle us, we breaked for a good half hour in the sand, digging sandcastles with our bare hands and haphazardly remembering to apply some bit of tanning oil (mistake, mistake, mistake). Halfway before building the pyramid of giza-great moat of China hybrid, we decided to run back into the water and played in the waves more before packing up our things once again and starting the hike back to the car. And an uncomfortable hike it was! I had been spoiled from years of seeing showers to bathe in on the beach docks, and there was not a shower to be found anywhere on Tybee. No lie, Josh and I both would have probably paid for a shower and we were seriously considering foregoing the consequences of using someone's hose in order to avoid the sandy, salt-sticky walk back.
When we were almost there, we stopped in a beach store to enjoy the AC and grab some fresh T-Shirts, and Josh went ahead of me to get the car. I caught glimpse of myself in a mirror and to my not-so-surprised horror saw that I was unevenly sunburned. By that I mean, the mother of all sunburns. As in, I was wearing a crochet top and the design of the crochet was burned into my skin. In short, my skin somewhat resembled a doily. Le sigh. I can't get a pretty tan for the life of me.

We began the long sojourn back, stopping at Sonic for some mega-huge drinks before going back to the hotel, where we freshened up, complained about our sunburns, applied aloe, repeated the word "ouch" a lot, and finally crawled painfully back into the truck, with our tender red skin, to go back into the city and get some dinner. It took forever... we drove around again for an hour looking for parking, as apparently Savannah on a Saturday night was THE place to be. But we got some great views of the city that we had missed Friday. We saw more churches, town squares, Paula Dean's restaurant, theatres...it was stunning to see the eclectic mix of old and new, and the ever-constant thrum of pure life that pulsed like a heartbeat throughout the city. People were everywhere, tourists, locals, dressed-to-the-tee's, photographers, hipsters, rednecks. I loved it all and took in every moment of it.

When we finally did hunt down a spot next to a cozy looking cafe by the intersection of Hull and Bull Street (easy to remember), we walked around for a good while, and couldn't seem to decide where to eat. We actually just ended up eating at the same place we had for lunch the first day because we thought it was so good! I was ravenous - we ate nachos and queso, Josh had another parmesan chimichanga (we aren't creatures of habit at all...), and I had a huge serving of chicken, my fries replaced with veggies. BG had held pretty steady since the beach and I was cruising at around 150, but was careful to give myself plenty of insulin to cover the chips so as to try and not get off track. After dinner, we walked down River Street again, spent some time listening to another one of the 4th of July bands until the bugs ate at us too much, and then journeyed back across Bay Street and onwards to check out the squares we had missed earlier.

It was fantastic --- we looked at booths full of beautiful things for sale, witnessed a proposal in the middle of a streetside concert, and I happily dragged Joshua back into a Candy Shop (conveniently enough they were all over Savannah!) to indulge in a treat of my choosing. I was literally as happy as a kid in a... well, candy store! (What is it about candy that makes people so... happy?) I had such a hard time choosing what I wanted! This was such a treat for me --- I told myself that, for tonight, I could pick anything I wanted, no blood sugar-strings attached. Tonight, I was just Lacy. Not Diabetic Lacy. Just me.

Josh picked a candy apple, and I ended up picking a single piece of Butterfinger Bark. I carried it like a treasure through the streets of Savannah, until we got back to the car. It was drizzling lightly, but instead of being annoying I felt as though the mist added yet another tinge of magic to this magical, magical city. As we drove back to the hotel, I closed my eyes and tried a piece of my candy, which melted on my tongue in the most amazing burst of flavor. The day in the sun, the sights, the sounds, the smells, the joy of today, and even the Butterfinger Bark...

It took me away from life and from the everyday, from the ins and outs, the drags of Diabetes, everything -
Nevermind the insulin pen in my stomach as I dutifully bolused. In that moment, it was Joshua and I, and we weren't sad with troubles, or weighed down from the world, I wasn't Diabetic -

No. We were simply, truly, oh so very, very happy, and it is a memory I will treasure always. 

Diabetes Never Takes a Vacation - Savannah Edition Pt. 1

In May, Josh and I set aside a free weekend over the summer. Free, as in I resisted booking any parties so that we could go on a trip - something neither of us had done in far too long! We juggled for weeks where to go on the designated one-weekend break for the Summer. Being a party entertainer means sacrificing a lot of weekends, and thus I wanted this weekend to be special.
Destin, FL? Helen, GA? Orlando? Atlanta?

Josh and I finally selected Savannah, Georgia as our destination. On Friday morning, the trusty Ford truck (if you're not a Ford fan, hush) was cleaned, loaded with snacks and small bags of luggage, and smelled strongly of cherry from the new air freshener we had placed in it. I gave Forsyth, GA a glance back as we pulled out of the driveway and, as we got onto I-75, we finally began our long-awaited weekend adventure.

I-16 is a really boring drive. Like... really boring. Stretching from Macon to Savannah, I-16 is a flat, desolate, two-lane highway straight east to the coast of Georgia. Savannah lies about 175 miles from Macon and it took about 2.5 hours to get there.

We settled in Pooler, just outside the city limits of Savannah, and once we were ready got back into the car to venture into the heart of the city. Just when we thought we had lost ourselves, a huge bridge loomed right before us, and we were suddenly transported into a place that seemed as though it still belonged in the 18th century. Savannah is the oldest city in Georgia (1733) and I was just in awe at the architecture.... plaster and stucco walls with aged worn brick peeping through. ancient facades and columns, cannons from the 1700's, and these incredible, beautiful little squares scattered like gems at points throughout the city. My first impression of Savannah was... awe.

It took a long time to find a parking spot. We finally parked in a Kroger (like the rebels we are) and stopped to get drinks for the long walk ahead. Neither of us were wearing tennis shoes, but rather sandals, which we would later regret. After leaving Kroger, we basically turned ourselves loose in the city. It is immense - you could explore it for days and not know every nook and cranny that Savannah has to offer. But we did pretty good. We came by an old cemetery very soon, and headed inside. It was there that I stopped and felt my heart pitter-pattering, tested, and came back with a 41. After my relatively steady levels all day so far, I was a little bummed. I ate a granola bar and asked Josh if we could sit on one of the benches a bit while I caught my breath.

After a few minutes we were up and walking again, past the cemetery, through more beautiful squares. When we finally crossed traffic over to Bay Street, Savannah seemed to once again morph into something completely different. We stepped down a set of ancient looking stone steps and picked our way through uneven cobblestone down to River Street. It was huge, it was bustling, it was...incredible. The river sat before us, and shops lined the street in both directions. It was so ancient, so old, and yet so full of life. As if the future had taken residence in the past overnight. There was a festival going on for fourth of july, and an endless assortment of souvenir shops, entertainers and tourists.
First things first, Josh and I booked a ghost tour (which I was not thrilled about!) and then set down River Street, looking through all of the shops and finally finding a place to eat. We were both starving, and glad for the respite from the burning summer heat. Josh ordered a parmesan chimichanga and I a salad. Even though I'd just been low, I didn't want to use too much insulin and figured this would keep me pretty steady. After eating we set out again, searching through more shops, taking pictures and absorbing all the incredible sights. We even ducked into a candy shop where we were greeted by the most amazing smells, and these sweet workers making taffy who threw us both a piece! Neither Josh or I like taffy, but even I had to admit that, fresh off the taffy-making machines, these were awesome. The permeating smell drove us out eventually - me from the madness that surely would have enveloped from not being able to eat so much of the sugar in the store, and Josh from the sickly sweetness. But it was still one of my favorite parts of the trip --- forbidden fruits taste the sweetest, I guess?

We turned ourselves loose in Savannah for the rest of the evening and afternoon. Ghost tours were at 10:40, so we had lots of time to kill. One funny episode happened when we snuck into the River Street Inn, an old, historic and beautiful inn famed for being haunted. Josh and I were looking over the impressive balcony down to the first floor landing, and as I walked away Josh yelped and asked, "did you do that?" I stared at him, puzzled, before he explained that something had just pushed him, hard. I was three feet away from Josh though and definitely had not pushed him! I'm sure it would have been scary if it had happened to me, but, at least from a spectator's perspective, y'know, it was kinda funny. Creepy... but funny. Regardless. Savannah is definitely haunted, y'all.

We checked out the 4th of July concert going on by the River, roamed through antique stores, viewed the parks scattered throughout the city, went into the tourist-ey shops, looked for souvenirs and even saw an old man walking around in booty shorts, which made us bellow in laughter. I even convinced Josh to go back into the candy store get some candy... in case of a low, of course! (I admit it, I was totally obsessed with the Candy Store at that point!)
We walked back through Savannah in search of our car at around 6:00 PM and were pretty sure we had lost ourselves after walking for what seemed like... forever...
As I said earlier, neither of us were wearing tennis shoes, so our feet were killing us, and we ended up asking some man with a British accent how to get back to Kroger. We finally made it, and stumbled inside for some snacks and some much-needed drinks. After spending some quality time in the AC, we drove around Savannah to relocated to a closer (and legal) parking spot before grabbing dinner. We were fortunate to ask a couple of cops about parking to find out that parking meters were all free after 5 and on weekends in Savannah. This made finding a spot a lot easier!

Finally, it was time for the ghost tour, and we climbed into a rickety trolley to be greeted by an eclectic tour guide named Ana. I was scared out of my freaking mind. Ghosts are not my thing! But Ana was fun and told us all kinds of ghost stories before we silenced our cell phones and got off the trolley to check out some creepy warehouse. The tour was fun but I hated this part! I hate being in creepy places, and we had to spend about 30 minutes with little detectors searching for ghosts and hearing the story behind the place. Josh's phone rang while Ana was telling the story, and everyone stopped to stare. Which was weird... because he didn't get a text, call or email, and he had silenced his phone!
We also toured some building called a Chandlery, which was honestly all just theatrics, but the tour was fun and I thought it was a totally memorable part of our vacation! We were pretty wiped after the tour, and decided to end the day after that.

All in all... it was an awesome first day, and my sugars remained pretty steady after the afternoon low. :)

Stay tuned for Part 2!