#DBlogWeek ’15 – Day 1 – (Un)grateful

 

How on Earth am I supposed to put up seven posts in seven days, when I’ve barely done that in the past two months? Maybe the Sixth Annual Diabetes Blog Week (affectionately DBlogWeek) will motivate me. Learn what this is all about here.

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What can I do, thanks to diabetes, that I probably couldn’t have done without it? That’s the gist of our lead-in topic, isn’t it?

It’s a tough question to answer. Because, while it’s easy to say how diabetes has shaped the person I have become, I haven’t the foggiest idea what kind of person I would have become if not for my natural insulin-deficiency.

I like to think that diabetes played a role in my shyness and introverted nature in my younger years. But maybe I would have shunned large crowds simply because I’m my mother’s son, and it runs in the family.

I like to think that diabetes made me a more sensitive and compassionate person. But maybe I would have been equally sensitive and compassionate because I have a brother whose medical condition is much more restrictive than my own.

I like to think that diabetes gave me a tremendous respect for parents and teachers who constantly look out for the young ones within their care. But maybe I would have had that same respect because I was lucky to have some of the world’s best parents and teachers as part of my life.

I like to think that diabetes forced me to place more value on people’s well-being than on places and things. But maybe I would have put people first anyway after my family’s brief bout without a home to call our own when I was twelve years old.

I like to think that diabetes has given me reason to learn the value of patience. But maybe it was show-moving New Jersey traffic, and not slow-acting insulin, that made me learn to accept what I can’t change.

I like to think that diabetes, and my interactions with others in the online community, pulled me out of my shell and gave me the confidence to speak loud and proud about things I care about. But maybe I would have developed that confidence anyway after finding success in my professional life.

The point is this. If not for my early shyness and my compassion and my respect and my values and my patience and my emerging confidence, I wouldn’t be the person I am today. I wouldn’t have maintained strong ties to my extended family as age takes its toll and those bonds elevate in importance; I wouldn’t have remained single and unattached through my late 20s; I wouldn’t have sent that email to that girl from New York that I met one weekend in Virginia; I wouldn’t have married her; I wouldn’t have the two greatest kids in the history of the world as my sons; and I wouldn’t be writing this post.

I can’t say that diabetes has mapped every step of my life’s path, but I can say that the path would have not been the same without it.

And I’m happy with where I’ve ended up.

So I can thank diabetes for where it’s gotten me so far.

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But now, diabetes, I don’t need you anymore. I’m done with you. Please go away.