Horton Hears a DOC?

Do you want to know what one of the things I love most about the DOC? The fact that we are all different. Some of us have only one child and some of us have many children. Some of us have one type 1 kiddo...and some of us have two or even three. We have such varied backgrounds...professionals, nurses, teachers, stay at home Mom's. Some of us live in areas where we are virtually the only diabetic families in town. Some of us live in areas where we have groups of families mere minutes away. We are tall, short, young, old...we represent every background and every culture out there. Some of us are wealthy...some struggle to make ends meet. Some of us are happily married and some of us are single parents shouldering the weight of this disease on our own. Some of us have diabetes ourselves and some of us are the parent...the stand in pancreas for our child. Some of us have lost our children to this disease. Some of us have had our hearts ripped out of our chests and somehow managed to keep moving....keep going...keep living after the loss. Some of us have been doing this for more years than we care to count...and some of us are brand new...taking our first tentative steps on this journey. We pump, we inject, we count carbs, we poke fingers, we laugh, we cry, we fall into our depressions, and we rejoice our victories.
We are a diverse group of people bonded together for life because of this disease. We are scattered across the globe and yet we are united as one. We are there to lift each other up when we have fallen...dust each other off...encourage each other...motivate each other...love each other.
I often wonder if other diseases have this same type of thing. Do families dealing with cancer have a second family because of their disease? Do they find comfort in that family? Are they there for each other to support each other?
I think back to the days before diabetes and how I had no idea this little world even existed. I just lived my life and went about my days totally oblivious to this little community that I was not a part of yet. I like the diversity. I like the varied backgrounds and opinions and lives we lead.
It sometimes reminds me of the ending of the movie "Horton Hears a Who" where all of the characters in Who-Ville come together to sing and make as much noise as possible so they can be heard in Horton's world. I think we are like that sometimes...we are many...we are all over the world...and yet we all have one voice...one bond...one life.