Immaturity Through IT

I’ve contemplated justifying my absence from this refuge, this space, but I will merely begin again and let the silence mean what it will without explanation. Too much to go back. Onward.

Two years living beside a beast, T1D, has been strange. It’s given time a new kind of meaning and punctuation. The moment so clearly precious, yet I don’t always embrace it as such. Seconds are often heavy and entangled with numbers (blood sugars, A1Cs, carbohydrates, insulin doses, the date of our next endo appointment), emotions (joy, anger, sadness, fear), and movements (finger pricks, pump changes, calls to medical suppliers, breathing). And others, jiggly with a mix of hope, inspiration, and immaturity. The latter (jiggly) is where I’ll rest today.

Max (now 13) and Charlotte (now 11) find it humorous that our family, as they put it, “is the most inappropriate of anyone they know.” Eyeballs regularly roll at parental antics which they deem the height of immaturity. Hallelujah, well done! We infuse our complex lives with humor (often puerile) because it feels good, especially in the midst of T1D and uncertainty. If Charlo’s pancreas doesn’t work, let’s cackle at the other untoward bodily functions that do! There’s a lot we take seriously (school, health, commitment, responsibility, community), but I’ve always found humor humanizing and stress-relieving. It’s connective tissue.

And immaturity? Well, the perpetual 11 year old in me, the one who didn’t get to laugh because of family tragedy, deserves to be heard. We are symmetry: I am her wise woman and she, my zany muse.

As for hope, I find a wealth of it in children and young adults who exude strength, grace, courage, and vitality despite what comes their way. More on that next.

So, I’m going to join P!nk and raise a glass (mine will be Diet Pepsi, thank you) to everything that makes us, us. Me, me. You, you.

 

 

 

Dizzy with It

Wow, what a summer. Charlotte has had some grand adventures with T1D on board thanks to incredible people who, perhaps hesitated, but ultimately felt that Ms. C needed and deserved adventure and empowerment. We all wish these things for our kids (or should), but having a chronic autoimmune disease that sets your child forever apart, dependent, and vulnerable is something most parents never consider. I am undeniably envious.

I’ve never been a worrisome mother; kind of astonishing since my elder brother died when I was 11. Rather, I’m a bit lackadaisical, eager for Max and Charlo to experience and learn from what comes their way. Yes, the good and ugly. I love spontaneity, but T1D has changed my ridiculous embrace of non-planning, non-focus, non-whatever-I-believed before. This is new territory for me. There is so much to consider now, it’s dizzying.

From stocking Charlo’s ever-present T1D kit daily with adequate needles, lancets, alcohol wipes, blood glucose meter, test strips, glucagon, and fast acting sugar for potential lows; to writing a 504 plan for school – a plan that designates her as a child with a disability (kick me now); to educating new teachers about Charlo’s imperative, life-saving T1D management (a clear source of annoyance to our principal); to buying not only school supplies but the juice and snacks that need to be stocked in Charlotte’s classroom in case of a low; to researching insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors; to remembering all the things I need to keep going for Max; these things and so much more weigh on me. Whew.

Oh, and I need a job.

For this moment right now, I am going to be quiet and breathe. No, I’m turning on P!nk’s Raise a Glass, a feisty tribute to individuality and difference, and shaking my booty. This moment is mine.