A Ducky Way

Lately we have been faced with some tough decisions regarding Sugar Boy and how we handle Diabetes. How much we allow Diabetes to have an impact in our day-to-day. How much we allow it to impact Sugar Boy’s life.


Facing these decisions and walking that very fine line between keeping him safe and healthy and letting him just be a kid has me thinking of an analogy that I heard once.

Our family is a lot like a duck. On the surface of the water when you see a duck in a pond or a lake, everything looks very smooth. Very calm, graceful and serene. Beautiful really. The duck is just gliding along without a care in the world. But what people often don’t think about is what is going on beneath the surface of the water. That’s where all the action is. That is where the duck is doing all its work. Its paddling like crazy to get where it needs to go. Its legs and feet are what does all the work to provide that beautiful grace and serenity above the water.

I feel like we are that way. When you look at Sugar Boy you see a happy NORMAL kid. He is just like any other 4 year old. In fact when compared side by side to his twin sister, on the surface, there is no difference. He plays just as hard, he eats the same things as she and he seemingly doesn’t have a care in the world. That’s what you see on the surface. But beneath the surface is Sugar Daddy and I. And we are working fools. We are carb counting, food measuring, blood glucose testing, sugar and insulin dispensing machines. We follow him around and keep our eyes peeled for anything that looks just slightly off so that we can catch a problem before it happens. Most of the time we do our jobs well. And most of the time he never really knows what it takes to keep him “normal”.

As far as I’m concerned, this is the way it should be. And as his Momma – I am happy to keep it that way!