That Awkward Moment When...

Photo taken while in Pittsburgh, Pa.

     I was about 5 years old; I did not fully understand diabetes. I thought the only reason I had to take shots, go to the doctor, get blood drawn and eat a different diet was because I was a boy. My sister, Dawn did not have to do these things, but she was a girl. My female cousins did not have to do these things but they were girls too. Once I realized that I was different due to my pancreas not producing insulin, I had questions. 

“Why was I being punished?”

 “What did I do wrong to deserve this?”

 “What could I do to fix it, what punishment could I serve to make this go away?”

     At age 5, I learned a very valuable lesson. My family found out I was diabetic at the age of 2. My mother awoke in the middle of the night realizing something was more wrong than just an upper respiratory infection. My parents rushed me to the hospital to find out that I was in the early stages of a diabetic coma. My mother, who did not want to pursue a career in the medical field because she didn’t want to give shots, was told she now had to give her 2 year old son a shot in order to keep him alive. 

     Seeing her son hooked up to all those machines, unconscious was enough to rock any young mother’s world. Now she had to face one of her biggest fears head on. During these times there were no cell phones to send out a mass email or text to have everyone pray. There wasn’t an Internet, or Facebook for people to send encouraging messages. My father still had to go to work with worry on his mind, not knowing the minute-by-minute updates of his son’s condition or progress. These were the days that if you didn’t go to work you didn’t have a job, and you definitely wouldn’t get paid.

     My mother, with tears in her eyes, was sitting in my room at the hospital reflecting on all that had happened. I was in a room shared with another little girl. My mother had been so engulfed with what was going on in my world she never really even noticed her. The girl’s mother was sitting there and asks my mother, “Do you want to trade disease?”

     “What?” was my mother’s response? As she proceeded to wipe the tears from her face and dry her eyes, the woman tells her to consider herself lucky. Her daughter was quadriplegic. She couldn’t walk, feed herself or verbally communicate. It was that awkward moment where you want to hold on to the grief of your own circumstance, but realize you are sitting next to someone who has it worse than you. My mother’s obvious answer was “No.”

      I learned some valuable principles as a young child when my mother shared this story with me.

1. You can search high and low and there is always someone who is better off than you and there is someone worse off than you. So while you may not be in the situation you want to be in, your situation could always be worse. Make the most of your situation and be thankful for what you can do and stop complaining about what you can’t do. 
2.  Help those who are less fortunate than you. What you make happen for others, God will make happen for you. While it may be difficult at times, be an encouragement to someone else. 
3.  You condition does not have to define or confine you. There is a boy who is my son’s age who is in a motorized wheel chair. He has been at every high school football game that I can remember. He doesn’t communicate verbally, can’t feed himself or control his bodily functions. However every time the football team takes the field that young man gets excited. When I see him it encourages and reminds me to enjoy life and make the most of it.