
Kerri Sparling (Six Until Me) and Amy Tenderich (Diabetes Mine) speaking with me at TCYOD Santa Clara. Photo credit: Debra Gardner
Last weekend I spoke at the Taking Control Of Your Diabetes (TCOYD) conference in Santa Clara in a session in the new Type 1 Track called “Getting To Know Your Online Community.”
I had incredible company on the DOC panel. Kerri Sparling from Six Until Me, Amy Tenderich the founder of Diabetes Mine and Kelly Close from DiaTribe joined me in explaining to the participants the value of the online community.
Amy wrote about the event over on Diabetes Mine and does a much better job recapping the day, so you should go read her post.

Landileigh & Mike Lawson – Photo Credit: Debra Gardner
One thing I love about these types of events is seeing friends. Sometimes I have relationships with people for YEARS before ever crossing paths with them in real life.
Landileigh (pictured with me on the right) is one of those people. I’ve known Landi for over five years, and we have never been in the same place at the same time until this past weekend. When I first “met” Landi, I was going through some tough times and since then we have both had ups and downs. It was a really nice feeling to give someone an IRL hug that has given you hundreds of virtual hugs for years.