She will be fine

Emma interviewed an incredible woman today for her D-Girl Power magazine. She has been living with type 1 diabetes for quite a few years now and Emma wanted to get her perspective on growing up with it.

As a Mom, it's always a beautiful thing to be able to see my kid speaking with others who are just like her. It's like they belong to a special club that I could never fully understand. Sure, I get it a bit because I am a D-Mom...but I don't get it like they do...I don't know what it's like really. They have an instant bond that I will never completely understand...but I adore it...I adore the fact that my child has such amazing role models like this woman who are there for her to look up to, talk to, ask for advice, or simply be in their company and get that comfort of total and complete understanding.  I sat there on her bedroom floor watching her at one point...holding onto her list of questions...laptop in front of her...so grown up looking, and yet still my baby girl. Sometimes I have to remind myself that she's only 9 years old. I forget because diabetes has matured her...it forced her to grow up ahead of time and really see things differently than other kids her age. One of the questions Emma likes to ask people is what advice they would give to girls growing up with type 1. I think it's important to her to know because she is one of those girls growing up with it...she is seeking out advice from these women who have been where she's at now...they've been through it all and then some...they have stories to tell and experience in this life. I think it's comforting to her as well to see that they did well...they grew up into amazing women who are making a difference in this world.

When Emma asked for the advice, and our new friend responded...I was floored at her reply. Her words...her response...it was one of the best things I have ever heard in the last five years. She said, "the ONLY thing you can't do is make insulin...everything else is GAME ON!" I felt my mouth open and the smile spread across my face. I looked at Emma and saw that it hit her just as hard too. We both laughed and said, "ahhh YES! I love that!" It's simple...to the point...and completely 100% accurate.

We aren't always going to succeed at everything we try. We aren't always going to win. We aren't always going to get it right. But as long as we are trying and giving it our best effort and persevering and seeing things through to the end...no matter what the outcome...we are winning. We can hear the words "no....you can't do that...you'll never succeed...it will never work...it's too hard..." over and over and over again in our lives. It happens every single day. We can choose to either believe those words and those people saying them. We can choose to let those words stand as roadblocks on our journey...stopping us...keeping us down...making us not believe in ourselves...........OR we can keep going. We can choose to keep going and keep trying and keep pushing and keep asking and keep seeking out our purpose and how we can use it to help others. We can choose to knock down those roadblock words and really truly honestly believe in ourselves.

So, when I saw Emma's reaction to that piece of advice, my heart pounded with happiness and pride because I know she is made of something special. I know that she believes that. I know she believes in herself and she's not afraid to try.

As a Mom, that gives me comfort in knowing that she is going to be just fine regardless of what life throws her way....she will be just fine.