10 favorite photos from 2011, a thankful post

My biggest worry when I was initially diagnosed with diabetes in 1999 was that I wouldn’t be able to travel as freely as I had hoped. 

So when I built a year-end photo album of my 10 favorite shots from 2011 for my new photography Facebook page, I had a ping of appreciation for the fact that despite 12 years with the disease, I’ve been able to travel all over the world, largely on my own, and see some amazing places. I know other bloggers on this site have had similar experiences.

I rarely count my diabetes-related blessings, but every now and then it’s worth appreciating what good fortune we have to have been diagnosed in a time where it doesn’t get in our way from doing the things we want to do, even if it’s as outlandish as spending four days in North Korea. We are also lucky to be from places where treating the disease is even a possibility.  Living in Asia, I see plenty of communities where the costs of treating diabetes are entirely prohibitive, making the disease a very different experience.

Despite the many low reactions, the nights spent way too high, and the days that bounce from one extreme to the other, it’s been a pretty good year.  I hope the same has been true for you and hope we all have many new adventures in 2012.

For more of my favorite travel photos from 2011, please have a look here

Sam Gellman

After growing up in Wisconsin, Sam Gellman spent his junior year of high school in the Netherlands, about half way through the year he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. He finished his year abroad, learning the ins and outs of diabetes in a combination of Dutch and English, which is now the Dutch vocabulary he remembers best. Sam spent his college years at Stanford, playing for the Stanford squash team during the year and leading bike trips in Canada in the summers. He spent six months of college in Chile, worked in Tahoe, and then got a job in finance in San Francisco, before moving with his job to Hong Kong in 2006. Now 29 and in his fifth year in Hong Kong, he spends his free time trying to learn Chinese and taking pictures.

Sam Gellman

After growing up in Wisconsin, Sam Gellman spent his junior year of high school in the Netherlands, about half way through the year he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. He finished his year abroad, learning the ins and outs of diabetes in a combination of Dutch and English, which is now the Dutch vocabulary he remembers best. Sam spent his college years at Stanford, playing for the Stanford squash team during the year and leading bike trips in Canada in the summers. He spent six months of college in Chile, worked in Tahoe, and then got a job in finance in San Francisco, before moving with his job to Hong Kong in 2006. Now 29 and in his fifth year in Hong Kong, he spends his free time trying to learn Chinese and taking pictures.