Starlight in the City

Starlight Children's Foundation...


Starlight MidAtlantic helps seriously ill children and their families cope with their pain, fear and isolation through entertainment, education and family activities.

We belong to the MidAtlantic Chapter of the Starlight Foundation and so far we have attended the circus when it came to town in February. We had a blast. 

They just hosted an event today at Franklin Square in the city (Philadelphia). It was wonderful. You see, in the almost-the-same-temperature-as-hell city during the summer, Franklin Square is an oasis of greenery and frankly, peace. Yes, it sits next to the Ben Franklin Bridge and everyone heading to NJ (and getting lost around the circle that ends the bridge, with the big lightning bolt and key statue), but it's a little piece of quiet amidst the grind of the city. 

I dearly love my city. Everything about it. Every single time I come home from NJ across the bridge, or up I-95 from DE or someplace that I have been, seeing my city from the driver's seat of a car or from the window of an airplane, my heart skips a beat. Honest it does. I love it.

We started with mini-golf, among little replicas of Philadelphia all around. My kids loved walking among all their favorite things, brought down to their size.

Little ole Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell.

Philadelphia Museum of Art. They all think they are Rocky.

Boathouse Row, where our annual Philly JDRF Walk is.
I laughed at the little rowers in their boats.

We rode the carousel. Grace was on an eagle. 

She was transformed into a princess. 

And of course, you know what they had to eat at the Starlight event, don't you? Pizza of course.

That's a 40g slice with a +30% temp basal increase you are looking at.
Started at 97, ended at 114. Take that pizza!

A gyroscope metal play thing on the playground. Left her dizzy but oh it was fun to spin!

This would make me puke. Her, not so much.

A great event, and you know why? It's all about coming together and realizing that among all this medical talk and medical visits and thrashing around in the world of diabetes, that there are others out there with children who are sick too. And they all don't have diabetes. And none of us is 'worse off' than the other. We all have our challenges. And we smile at each other, and we ride the carousel together, and we wink and we nod and generally, we are understood. There is beauty in that.

And there is also love. Thank you Starlight.