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I find this celiac group very upbeat, with only an occasional hint of
self-pity. But there is still a question of how we celiacs should live, all
the way from parties to travel to how many children we should have.  After
over a half century of dealing with food intolerances, I suggest the general
rule: Live (as opposed to exist) until you die.

I missed a year of school around age 7 while ill from a milk intolerance.
During the hospital visits I came to understand that I was going to die.
The only question was when.  (Life itself is a terminal condition.  We will
all die someday, but this fact is not integrated into our thinking processes
for most of us until we are past middle age.)  In my case I assumed that I
would not make it past high school.  So, how should I live?  I was not
strong enough to participate in high school sports, nor to be a farmer like
my dad, which constraints had to be factored into decisions.

The obvious first step was to make my peace with God.  I then decided that
death, while inevitable, was not to be accelerated by taking unnecessary
risks nor delayed by heroic efforts just to get a few more miserable breaths.

I studied hard, became an engineer, married, had children, taught
engineering at Kansas State University for 28 years, wrote 2 books, got a
pilot's license after age 40, and generally lived an interesting life.  I
have planted a number of trees, always the full sized, long lived types.  At
age 57 I planted 400 walnut trees which will require 40 to 50 years before
they can be harvested for lumber. I expect my grandchildren will do the
harvesting, rather than me, but I have been wrong about my life expectancy
before.  The point is that self-pity does not accomplish much.  We can live
so the strong, healthy, eat-everything types envy us rather than the other
way around.

Gary Johnson in Kansas