To New Beginnings

I can't sleep. All this talk about the Mayan Calendar. What does it really mean? Will there be a change in the world as we know it? Can we start over again?

People do it all the time. Sometimes it happens with a flip of the calendar, or a birthday. It happens when people get married, welcome their first child, enter a new home or start a new job.

For me it started with my diagnosis in August. Type 2 Diabetes is now with me for life.

It's ever-present on my mind. It changes the way I think about food and exercise. Every time I look in the mirror, I wonder what it's doing to my body. I try to be more aware. With every little ache or pain, I can't help but wonder if it's part of the process. How will each day compare to the last?

I believe change is coming, for all of us. Maybe not today, or tomorrow, but soon. It may begin so slightly that you cannot feel it. Just wait. When it spreads far enough, you'll know it.

This reminds me of 9-1-1. It seemed like just another day. The first report reached me by radio. I barely even noticed. Not until later, with all the dramatic TV footage, did it begin to sink in.

Then the fallout began. Over weeks and months, everything changed. My life was turned upside down. It set us on a path that forced us to make many choices we never anticipated. It led to the close of my private practice, a new direction for my career and finding a new place to live.

Looking back, we now see a dividing line, before and after. Not just for us, but for life in America as we knew it. And it's never been the same.

I'm anticipating that kind of change. Hopefully, for the better.

When first told that I had Diabetes, I did not know what it would mean. My understanding of that changes over time. The life-altering impact of my condition comes in stages. A year from now, it will undoubtedly mean something more than it does to me right now. And more a year after that.

So what about the Mayan Calendar? My wife and I keep watching for signs. We have been already.

The world needs to change. All the wrongs need to be righted. The suffering must come to an end. I'm not sure how this will happen. But I think it will be impossible to escape. Like an avalanche, or a tidal wave. It will find each of us, where we live.

It will involve some kind of acceptance ... of truth that has long been denied.

Once we do, everything will be different. Like 9-1-1. We'll know when it all began. Our world will not be the same.

I hope it happens soon.