Monday I discovered my little dog had a terrible infection on one of his rear legs. Required emergency surgery to remove dead and infected tissue.

On Tuesday I needed to have Sugarboy in Palo Alto to start the second part of the study he is participating in.

On Wednesday the kids and I were leaving NorCal to travel to the Seattle area to house shop.

Meanwhile I was frantically finishing up cleaning and organizing my home so it could be listed for sale Wednesday evening.

I started packing for our trip Wednesday at 4:30pm – flight was scheduled for 9pm which meant leaving the house by 5:30pm because I’d be driving to SFO during rush hour.

3 pair of pants for each kid, 4 shirts, 4 underwear, 4 pairs of socks – check

toothbrush, toothpaste for each kid – check

jackets – check

electronics (DS’s, ipad, phones, chargers, laptop) – check

clothes for me – check (not really I forgot to pack pants)

Seems all in order right? oh wait I forgot about the elephant.

Insulin – check

3 different pump cartridges and two different infusion sets (3 kids on 3 different pumps) – check

CGM sensors (part of study for Sugarboy) – check

Computer that is used with study – check

Glucagon – check

Lantus and syringes – (just in case) – check

Extra pump (just in case) – check

ketone strips and meter (also part of study) – check

Ketone stix (part of study and just in case) – check

Zofran (just in case) – check

Test strips for two different meters – NOPE

I only packed contour strips – didn’t pack OneTouch Ultra strips for Middles.

Sweetstuff and Sugarboy are both using Contour Next meters.

Sugarboy can’t share his meter since it is for the study. Sweetstuff wasn’t keen on sharing.

Middles was down to 5 strips by 9am today. 3 days to go before we are home. Shit.

Here is where AWESOME happens.

There is a Facebook group I was invited to join for the Seattle area.

Much like many other local groups around the country. Parents of CWD.

I posted in the group that I was visiting and needed test strips around 9am this morning.

By 9:30 I had 3 responses. “Sure I have strips, where would you like to meet up?”

Please note – I’ve never met any of the parents IRL from this group.

I’ve only been part of the group since early November.

Yet these parents answered the call. A stranger in the diabetes world is no stranger at all is what I have learned.

I don’t want to share the name of the group or the folks that responded because the group is private and honestly I’m not even “friends” with them (yet) on Facebook but still in case any of them find their way to my humble slice of the blogosphere I’d like to give a huge shout-out and express my sincerest gratitude for their generosity.

The diabetes online community is a magical place and stretches further than twitter, blogs,  Facebook and Instagram. It embraces us all with outstretched arms and touches our hearts. IMHO.

Thank you again G and everyone that responded so quickly to my post. I am so blessed in this area already and I haven’t even moved here yet.

Oh and while I am tossing out a shout-out Id like to include three others.

One goes to a mom of a CWD that I was introduced to via email after contacting the Seattle are JDRF. She is on the board and we have exchanged a number of emails, chatted on the phone, Facebook messages and texts. She has been instrumental in helping me understand the area. Sadly there were no homes that met our needs and budget real close by to this new friend but I’m sure we will meet up soon and I’ll be seeing her at JDRF functions.

Another local parent of a CWD has also exchanged been helping me learn the area and shared her experiences with diabetes in Seattle. Again sadly no homes near her but certainly look forward to meeting up and getting to know this wonderful Dmom.

Lastly – I “met” (online via the Facebook group) another Dmom in the area I hope to buy a home. I had again posted in the group a question about a particular city and asked if anyone was around. She responded and has shared wonderful information about the area we hope to buy a home. She has a daughter with T1 Sugarboy’s age and even works at the school the kids would attend.

This post isn’t witty or funny or exceptionally intelligent in general but for me it was a very blessed day – a reminder that no matter where we live my kids and I will never be alone.

Thank you to all the Dfamilies that have taken the time to welcome us to the area.