Looks So Easy

As many of you know I like to follow some type 1 diabetic blogs. These blogs are written by a person with type 1 diabetes or by a parent caring for a child with type 1 diabetes. These are places I can go where people truly understand and comprehend what life is like to live with or care for a person with type 1 diabetes. It provides me with courage each day, gives me insight on how Kennedy might be feeling on certain days, tips on how to respond when my sweet girl lashes out and says she wants her diabetes to go away, a place to vent, laugh, and feel confident that we are doing everything we can to care for Kennedy. One of my favorite blogs is Six Until Me. The other day she posted this on her blog and it got me thinking:

"But what's made me particularly frustrated is how there seems to be this common misconception that "it's only diabetes" and it's okay to pass judgment on my choices. Diabetes isn't viewed as a serious disease to those outside the bubble of understanding, and complications for a young person with type 1 can thankfully be hard to spot, so maybe diabetes just looks too easy to some people. Maybe we are just too good at masking how challenging it can be sometimes."

Ben and I were just talking the other day about how this disease and all that comes with it so quickly became a part of our family. We were getting ready to leave the house and Ben asked me if I had Kennedy's blood sugar tester...we started looking around the house trying to figure out where it was...it was already in the car, I had put it in there automatically. We looked at each other and the discussion began about how some parts of the disease become so automatic, but once you feel like you have a good grip on it Kennedy experiences a series of lows that we just can't figure out. It's frustrating, and sometimes you want to scream at the top of your lungs so everyone knows why your shoving juice and candy down your child's throat at dance class instead of looking at me like I'm a bad mom.

There aren't very many times when Kennedy's struggles with diabetes are apparent to the naked eye, which is good, because it shows she is "normal," but it is difficult at the same time because those same people don't have any idea how strong and courageous this little girl is. I pray that as she grows in her understanding of her disease that she embraces it as we have and knows how proud we are of her everyday for what she endures as a diabetic and as a "normal" person.