Hello and welcome to Day 2 of D-Blog Week! Today I am supposed to write a letter to someone and share my feelings. I’ve decided to write to my kids, ages 10 and 9.
Dear Kids,
I’m writing to tell you how I feel about things. I don’t have to spend time telling you how much I love you, because you already know!! 🙂 I want to tell you about diabetes. We really don’t talk about diabetes a lot, and that’s ok with me because I truly believe that it’s not the most important thing about me or about our life together as a family. The most important thing is US. From the time you could understand, you have taken on the diabetes thing without even knowing it. My syringes have always been right out on the bathroom counter, yet you have never gotten into them. And so on.
We did go through the “googalose tablets” phase. You really liked those things that I think taste like chalk! Finally I started asking if you were low when you requested one. “Do you need to check your blood gluocse?” I’d ask, and funnily enough, you stopped asking for glucose tablets!
I’ll never forget the time when my eldest (probably 5 at the time) announced, “Mom, I know how you can get rid of diabetes. Take your kit and all your diabetes stuff and say, ‘I’m not going to do this anymore.’ And then throw away all the stuff in your office and say, ‘I’m getting a different job.'” You are brilliant!
And the most vivid diabetes-related memory for my youngest is how you inserted pump infusion sets into several of your Webkinz. Some have Quick-sets, some have Cleos, some have Insets, and some have Omnipods.
I love that you two take diabetes in stride. You know that I might get a little cranky when I need to eat something, but for the most part diabetes is not our focus. My plan is to keep it that way. I take care of myself so that I can take care of you! I love being with you, having conversations, playing, or just doing nothing. Our relationship does not revolve around diabetes – it revolves around us. I love your laughter and your individual (very different) personalities. I love the questions you ask (which are rarely, if ever, about diabetes). I have loved every stage in your development more than the stage before, and I am even looking forward to your adolescence!
Although I can’t just throw away my kit and get rid of diabetes, I can make sure to stay healthy and whole. I can take care of you two, because I take care of me and it is completely worth the effort! Thanks for all you give me every day – I love you!! (But you already knew that.)
Mom