Sweet Friends

This is a story that has been floating around in my head for a long time.  I was recently reminded about it again when Ally wanted to give one of her Diabetes ID wristbands to her friend - a very sweet (non-D) friend!  (By the way, have you entered the D-Tales Contest yet?  You could win one of these very same wristbands from CoolMedID.  The contest ends tonight (Sept. 16th) at midnight.  And while you are there...Don't forget that the  Blogger Basal is coming up.  If you'd like to participate the deadline is Sept. 17th to submit your blog.)

How cute are they?

This is Ally with her sweet little friend, who happens to have a perfectly performing pancreas.  (That means she doesn't have Type 1 Diabetes!)  She is in Ally's class at school for the second time - yay!  She often accompanies Ally to the clinic when she goes to check her blood sugar.  She sits with her at lunch and knows that Ally has to eat everything that I packed in her lunch - and no trading! 

One afternoon, Ally had this sweet friend over to play. The two girls quickly disappeared to the abyss of our craft room...a very large closet that I transformed into a place to hold all of our crafty supplies. They had a plan! When the girls finally emerged, they were giggling AND sporting two very cute pump pouches. One that Ally wears to hold her insulin pump and one that they made out of paper for her friend.

And How Cute is THIS?

The ensemble was complete with a paper belt, paper pouch and paper tubing. But wait, they were not finished yet! The paper tubing was connected to a paper pump. It was so cute! It gave me goosebumps! I was thrilled that her friend was so interested in Ally's pump, yet not scared away by it.  She even wanted to wear it to school the next day.  How sweet!

So, while I find myself feeling sorry for Ally for being different, wishing that she could meet some other kids her age with T1 Diabetes, I remember that you don't have to HAVE diabetes to know how to be a friend to someone who does have it! 

The thing is that kids (and I guess adults too!) tend to be afraid of things that they do not know about.

This is a funny story about kids noticing Ally's differences, but just not quite understanding them:

When Ally plays soccer, we prebolus for her basal and then she removes her insulin pump.  She had practice the other night and in our usual rush to be there on time, we forgot to remove it before she ran out to the field.  As the other teammates were gathering, we quickly removed it.  One of the other girls asked her what it was...she said it was her "pump."  The little girl said, "Oh, do you pump up your ball with that thing?"

Hallie at The Princess and the Pump had a similar "funny things kids say" moment at Chick-fil-A when another child asked her if her daughter had a cell phone (noticing Sweet Pea's insulin pump). 

When I think about these stories, cute as they may be, I remind myself of the importance of educating others.  Not just adults.  The kiddos in Ally's life too.  Because if it is something they know a little about, it will just be a small part of who she is.  If you don't believe me, check this out.  Wendy at Candy Hearts posted this beautiful story called My Special Friend that a sweet little girl wrote about her daughter Sugar.

A little while back I blogged about going Back to School with my Smarties, where I mentioned visiting Ally's class, reading a book and discussing Type 1 Diabetes with her classmates.  I also talked about the letter that I borrowed from Heidi at D-Tales which she shares with the parents of her son's classmates.  For sure, I don't have it all figured out...but it's a start to making Ally special for who she is...and diabetes, well that's just a small part of who she is.