It's all been said before

Sometimes I feel like it's all been said before. It's all been experienced. It's all been done. It's all been talked about. We all know this life is hard. We know it is stressful and frustrating and sad and maddening. We know it. We live it. We wake up every single morning, get out of bed, and do it. We make it work...even in the midst of the worst blood sugar days, the dreaded stomach virus, ketones, and stubborn lows that just won't quit......we make it work. We get up and we do it.
I've been asked many times over the years...How do you do it? How do you keep going every single day and do it? How do you stick Emma with needles day in and day out? Doesn't it break your heart?
I've been told many times over the years...You are amazing. You are such a good Mom. There is no way that I would be able to do that every day. There's no way I would be able to give my kid a needle every day. She is such a brave soul and such a hero. You are both an inspiration.
While I do appreciate the kind words and encouragement, I honestly don't think we are doing anything particularly special or out of the ordinary in what a normal Mom would do for her child in a situation like this. You never really know what you are capable of or what you would do in a situation like ours until that day arrives. Once you are told that your child has a disease that will be with them every single day until a cure is found, a kind of shift occurs in your way of thinking. You go into survival mode and you muddle your way through until you are able to create something beautiful out of the madness. Diabetes is an ugly disease...and you make it your main goal every single day to turn that ugliness into something beautiful. Some days we achieve that with very little effort...and other days we barely squeeze out a tiny spark of beauty. Yet, we fall asleep that night and wake up the next morning to try all over again. The perseverance and tenacity required to live this life is what makes us astounding I think. We get knocked down, beat up, kicked over and over again. We sport the war wounds of a never ending battle. We lose...we guess...we try...we lose...we guess...we try...we win. It's an incredible ability to have in my opinion. To get shot down so many times...to fail so many times....and still have that fight left in you to get back up and try again. It's just the nature of the beast.
So, we soldier on and make it work. We accept it, we fight it, we win some, and we lose some. Through it all, we have faith....we have hope...we have each other. I think that is the most beautiful thing of all...the power of the diabetes connection. It's there between family members dealing with this together. It's there between husbands and wives, siblings, even pets. It's there between friends...be it kids at school, other families with Type 1 kiddos, Facebook groups, all of you fantastic blogging friends out there.......or any other variation of a true friend. That connection is there between us all. Every minute of every day...that connection is there...that comraderie...that bond. That to me is perhaps one of the most beautiful aspects of this life. The power of our perseverance and our bond will help us conquer this life together.