Signed Book GiveAway: And the Winner is...

The Arden's Day GiveAway Machine has chosen and the winner of the signed copy of 'Life Is Short, Laundry Is Eternal' is...

Please contact me at ardensday@me.com to make shipping arrangements. Congratulations!

The Descendants Made Me Cry 3 Times

WARNING - This post is full of spoilers for the movie.

This past weekend I found myself exhausted but unable to sleep. Remarkably, it wasn't diabetes that was keeping me up (like it did the five nights prior), this night I was trying to stay awake so I could pick my son up from a party at 1 am - so I turned on the television and found that 'The Descendants' was about to begin.

The movie follows a man (George Clooney) as he comes to terms with the news that his recently comatose and soon to be dead wife, was cheating on him. There is a scene toward the latter part of the film where the wife's father (played by Robert Forster) puts his hand on his adult daughter's head and kisses her while he is coming to terms with the fact that she won't be waking up. That made me cry the first time. It was a small moment in the film that was very touching, but did not effect me personally.

After the movie ended I made my way to Arden's room so I could make some last adjustments to her basal rate. When I was finished, I bent down and kissed Arden on her head just as I always do before I leave her room when she is sleeping. It was then that I began to cry for a second time, this time it felt personal. This time I thought about losing my daughter as the man did in the movie. I thought about how hollow the world would seem without Arden, and I wondered if I would want to exist in the void that her passing would leave.

I never thought about diabetes...

Until I did

I walked into our bathroom to collect myself because Kelly was sleeping and I didn't want to wake her. It was dark and so I could only make out shadows. There are personal photographs in that room and one of them is of Arden standing on the beach, it's from a few years ago and she is walking toward the surf with her hands stretched out to her sides. I took that picture as I watched her walk away from me. She looks like she is trying to absorb how wonderful the moment was... like she wants to hug the sun. I love that picture.

I just about had myself together when I heard Arden's CGM beep

Then I thought about diabetes and all of the things about it that we try to guard against but don't speak about very often. I thought about the possibility of long-term complications. And that's when I fell apart.

I was okay a few minutes later. I pulled it together and reminded myself that I get extra emotional when I'm tired and then I went back to Arden to check on that CGM.

I'm sharing this story today because I imagine that something very similar to this has happened to you - and it will happen again. It's totally normal, expected and human and I wanted you to know that it happens to me too.

BTW, I really liked the movie, if you've never seen it you should check it out sometime.

Pictures from my Barnes & Noble Book Signing

Thank you to everyone that was able to come out and support my first book signing last night. I had a wonderful time (please ignore how tired I look in some of the pictures) and as you can see, Arden really enjoyed signing the books!

We are working on making other events happen, please stay tuned. If you have pictures from last night I'd love it if you would send them to ardensday@me.com.

Life Is Short, Laundry Is Eternal is available everywhere that book are sold and on all eBook formats - I hope that you love it!

Have a great weekend and thank you as always for your continued support!

Scott

A big thank you to the Barnes & Noble in Hamilton, NJ (especially Susan) for their warm and wonderful support.

From Stay-At-Home Dad to Published Author and all the Laundry in between

From the Trenton Times. Photo by Christina Izzo 

From the Trenton Times: 

Scott Benner said he had his first introduction to writing books when he was a child in school.

“We used to write them and bind them and then they would go on a library cart and go from class to class,” he said. “That’s the part I really liked — that the book was somewhere else and someone else was reading it.”

Benner, who grew up in Bucks County, continued writing through his teens and early 20s, trying his hand at writing movie scripts and fiction, but he said he found that he was writing stories that were already written.

“I felt that I didn’t have anything to say,” he said. “I felt that if I kept saying stuff that somebody else had already said, either it isn’t valuable or I’m not at a point yet where I should be doing this.”

But after being a stay-at-home dad for 12 years, Benner said he found something to say.

You can read the entire article in today's edition or online here.

If you are in the Central NJ area, please come out tonight at 6:30 pm for my first book signing at the Barnes & Noble in Hamilton, NJ.

Guest Post: I wrote a piece for WEGO Health about the Power of Communication

From the WEGO Health Blog

WEGO Health is proud to announce the recent publication of Scott Benner’s first book: Life is Short, Laundry is Eternal: Confessions of a Stay-at-Home Dad. Scott is the 2011 winner of the WEGO Health Activist Advocating for Another Award, and an amazingly engaged member of the WEGO Health network. In honor of this outstanding accomplishment, WEGO Health is giving away three copies of the book to members of our community. Today is the last day to enter the contest, so head on over to our Facebook page and share today’s post about Scott’s new book for your last chance to win a copy.  Not a big Facebook fan? You can also retweet WEGO Health to enter!

I hope that you can take a few moments today to read my guest post over on WEGO Health's blog. Here's a snippet of what I wrote:

It’s possible to face your challenges alone; I know that because I tried. But eventually the burden becomes too heavy and it can begin to drag you down. Alone you are one person pulling a mountain, but together, together we are unstoppable. On the days that are too much for me, I look to others to find the strength to carry on. Those people, those sometimes faceless friends that I have found online, they hold me up until I can stand again. Before I know it, I’m fine and ready to help them during their tough times.

WEGO is giving away three copies of my book today when you retweet or share their blog entry - good luck! Hey, even if you don't win today there is still time to enter my GiveAway for a signed copy of 'Life Is Short'.