Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Moment of clarity and accomplishment with Emma's teacher

I love those moments in time that give you the warm fuzzies...the feel good feelings...the stuff that makes you truly believe that all the hard work you are doing is actually paying off...actually making a difference. I was lucky enough to experience one of those moments today.
I brought Emma back to school after lunch and dropped her off on the playground to join her friends for the remainder of recess. Tomorrow is pizza day at her school and they will also be making one of their frequent visits to mass at the church tomorrow afternoon (Emma goes to a Catholic school)...so I walked inside to chat with the teacher about all of this to make sure we were on the same page as far as things go with all of the added activity tomorrow. Usually what I would do is come in to see how much of the pizza Emma had eaten and help her bolus correctly for it...and then I would drive her to the church as opposed to letting her walk with the school there because it is quite a hike and I am too paranoid of lows happening. It's just a plan that works best for us...so I wanted to make sure the teacher was on board with it this year. Anyway, we stood there talking about things and got everything squared away and I turned to head back out the door so she could finish up her lunch before the bell rang and the kids all headed back inside. She stopped me though and as I turned around to look at her, I noticed tears in her eyes. She told me that she had finished reading my book and she wanted to let me know that it really opened her eyes to this whole diabetes life that we live. She told me that she never knew how much those of us with healthy children...those of us with fully functioning pancreases take for granted. She told me that reading my book now and knowing Emma and her personality just totally hit her hard. She said that she really admired us and my strength as a Mom. She told me that the part I had written about sending Emma off to school every year and trying to trust a new stranger (teacher) with her life...just really got to her...it made her realize how difficult it must be. She continued to go on for a while pointing out certain parts of the book that got to her.
It was such an awesome feeling...incredible...it made me feel like I had accomplished something great. It made me feel like I had reached this seemingly lofty goal. It was honestly hard for me to hold back the tears while I was standing there hearing her talk about this. I think that alot of times I look at things in this diabetic life as being overwhelming and impossible at the time. I look at it as the majority of people will never truly get it unless they live it every day. It's hard to change a persons way of thinking and make them understand...seriously understand how stressful and intense diabetes can be. So when I was standing there in the school hallway...looking in this woman's eyes...seeing the feeling and emotion behind them...hearing her words...from one Mom to another...it meant the world to me. I felt like I won the battle today...and for that I am truly greatful.

3 comments:

  1. I also enjoyed your book! Thanks for writing it-hopefully it will touch many more people :)

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  2. what an amazing gift!
    totally bummed that life has sucked my reading time as of late. MUST find your book in the pile that is my dining room table at the moment and MUST make time to read it!!!!

    feeling like a sucky looser having not read it :(

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  3. I am sucky too...b/c I haven't had time to sit and read it yet. I am getting there though. Things are starting to slow down. FINALLY.

    AND...I am so happy that the teacher read it and had this response. You are making a huge difference Amy. Thank you.

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