Each day, I post about having celiac disease. You read, comment, challenge, encourage, or otherwise engage with this content. It is an amazing community.

In one post, I asked about fears surrounding celiac. The answers you posted stuck with me. One response stood out. It was from a woman who said her daughter was afraid to have children because she didn’t want to pass celiac disease onto her children.

That response stopped me in my tracks. I cried that day. I cried because nobody should ever be so afraid of having celiac disease they are afraid to live their life.

I write these posts to encourage you to live your lives to the fullest. Travel, love, find safe places to eat out, go to parties, enjoy friends and do all of the things you want to do without fear.

Living in our gluten covered world with celiac disease is hard. It sucks when the diagnosis comes and your food world is turned upside down. It really sucks when you miss your favorite foods or favorite restaurants. It is awful when friends and family make fun of you or aren’t supportive.

Yes, it all stinks and at the same time we keep going. We eat our gluten free foods. We take the jokes. We let the unkind jabs roll off our backs. We suffer when accidentally ingesting gluten. None of it is easy. None of it is fair.

And we keep going, looking for peace and a way to find happiness in all of it.

I hope you see yourself in these posts. My goal is not to smooth over the rough patches of having celiac disease. I want to shine a light on the challenges, acknowledge them, and find a way to live at peace with them.

Anyway, my birthday is tomorrow. I’m going to enjoy a big slice of gluten free birthday cake, ice cream, and all the gluten free fried food I can stand!