On May 24th, 2004, Mr. Dennis Jouett, passed away. He never got to see the Pop Up where he was Diabetic of the Month, nor the first ever, Diabetic of the Year. What he did get to see was people caring for him and admiring him for the person he was inside rather than the package he came in. I remember Dennis coming into my office one time, telling me he bought, for the first time, a pair of pants, “off the rack.” They were 5X’s and he whispered to me, “hey, even these are big and I’ll be in a 4X pretty soon.” He was happy; it was like he had climbed a mountain in his life. I got so caught up in his joy. Dennis liked to be treated like everyone else. When we were moving into our new office he was there for a visit to see me. When finished, Cindy came into the office and told me she had some more chairs that needed to be unloaded from the car. Dennis said, “I’ll help,” and Cindy said, “no, we can get them,” not knowing what exactly his limits were. I told Cindy, “hey, he can get them; he’s fat, not crippled.” Her jaw fell open and Dennis looked straight at her and said, “Is he the best you could do for yourself,” and then busted out laughing and so did everyone else. That was Dennis, he loved playing and being played with, treated like everyone else and he could come back with a smart mouth as fast as anyone else. He made you love him. On his first visit to Pure Fitness, I promised I would come and make sure everything was ok. I was a bit late and by the time I got in there I saw him and his sister, Pat Jacobs, on the treadmill working up a sweat. He was glad I showed up to check on him but when he saw me he acted like he didn’t care at all and asked me what I was doing there. I told him, “well, Dennis, we just got Pure Fitness to agree to take patients, and all diabetics for that matter, and I wanted to make sure you did not come in here wearing a Speedo!” He broke up laughing and I could tell this kid is going to do alright. We always try to use diabetics to help other diabetics. When we were getting ready to put on a health fair I asked Dennis to call around and get some stores to donate some stuff so we can do some two hour glucose tests on the day of the fair. Well, he called and called around and could not get anyone to donate a damn thing and continued this for a few days. Then, one day he calls me and says, “I got Wal-mart to donate a gift card for $25.00!” He was proud, and I can’t begin to tell you how grateful he found someone to do something because he knew we would tease him constantly if he failed. The last conversation I had with Dennis was about that gift card on May 20th. He was there for his appointment and follow up visit. He had become such a fixture here that I didn’t take him back to the office, since no one was up front and held court there. We would get serious for a second or two then start joking. The card from Wal Mart came up and he was so impressed he got that for the health fair. I told him it cost me more in gas to pick up the card than what we got on the card. He was just laughing his butt off as was everyone in the office. That was Dennis, he made everyone feel good and he felt good. I am glad the last conversation we had was left on a laugh. And, although we are all very very sad about his passing, I can assure you the thoughts of him still make us laugh and we smile at the thought of him. In my office, I have a picture of my Brother’s gravestone, to make people ask why a picture of that, then I explain what happens if you don’t gain control. It’s the only personal picture I had on the wall. We will be hanging a picture of Dennis on the wall of D4D Health & Wellness Medical Center, “Diabetics 4 Diabetics,” as a picture of inspiration and because we want him hanging around here. My Brother’s diabetes made me chose this course in my life. Dennis has made me appreciate even more what we do here because he inspired us all to be better people and I will forever be grateful for his presence in our life here.