My Diabetes Can Drink Green Beer

St. Patrick's Day 2009 marked my 21st anniversary of having type 1 diabetes. So, now my diabetes can drink green beer! Woohoo.

My mom gave me a sweet card and a present, as she's done every year, to commemmorate the day and say nice things about how I handle my diabetes. Every year, this makes me teary-eyed.

I had just turned 10 when I was diagnosed, so I remember a bit about the doctor's office. And the night in the hospital. And the nurses coming to our house with grapefruit and syringes to teach us all (me, my mom, my dad, and my stepdad) how to give injections. To be honest, though, most of it was a blur. In the span of just under two years, my mom and dad had divorced, we had moved across the country, my mom married my stepdad (who I adore), and I started at two new schools. Which means that there are many other memories of that time that are much more crisp. This may have something to do with the fact that my blood sugar was oh, 364 when I was diagnosed. My brain was probably not recording memories very well in that moment!

But my mom was an adult! And a mom! She spent the night with me in the hospital, and she says that she had a moment before she opened her eyes in the morning when she thought, "Maybe this was a nightmare." And then she opened her eyes to us in the hospital. She always managed her emotions so well that it's hard for me to imagine what she was feeling. I only know that her ability to let me always, always control my own diabetes and to support me in the ways I most needed her support was incredible. So, I think the tribute should be as much to her as it is to me.

Happy 21st Anniversary!