Diabetes Challenges - The Grown Up Edition

Growing up with diabetes was a challenge - just ask my mother, who mothered three children and a husband with type 1 diabetes.
Ask "Kelly In The Past," who had her share of trying to fit in and be normal - It wasn't always easy.
Ask my oldest friends, who saw the good, bad, and diabetesalicious of it all.

I think one of the reasons I became such a loyal friend is because of diabetes. I know the value of having friends who are there regardless of a faulty pancreas.

And now that I'm all grown up, diabetes is still a challenge - and new challenges have popped up.

There are fleeting moments that I forget about diabetes. OK, not forget, but some things, like testing my blood sugar, and immediately counting carbs when ever food enters my mind or is presented on my plate, have become so automatic that they've become second nature to me, like breathing and hating liver.

The longer I live with diabetes, the more I worry about "The Diabetes What If's." And I know that a little worry can be productive, but too much can be down right paralyzing.
I still struggle with the worry, but I'm handling much better than I have in the past - And that's directly related to being part of the Diabetes on-line community.

Then there's the challenge of people (mostly perfect strangers) asking me if I can have kids because, you know, I have (said in a concerned tone) diabetes. Or ,they switch it up a bit and ask me if the reason I don't have kids is because of my diabetes. For the record, diabetes is NOT the reason I have yet to be called "Mommy", but honestly, it's none of their business!
I don't ask (OK, most of the time I don't ask) those nosey nellies the last time they took a crap or had sex, so why is it OK to ask me about my reproductive long term plans, decisions, etc?

Diabetes and dating was never a problem before. I was always honest and upfront regarding my diabetes, but I was the one who decided when it was time to bring up my diabetes. When I did decide to share my diabetes, it was usually on the 4th or 5th date, when I knew that things were going well - And it was never a deal breaker in any of my long term relationships.
But now that I blog about diabetes on a daily basis, and the name of my blog is on my business card - And we live in the age where Google has become a pre-dating pre-requisite, the decision of when to share my diabetes with a potential significant other is no longer mine.

And I'll admit, not having control in that area bothers me.

With that being said, I would never go back to my life pre Diabetesaliciousness.
Diabetes blogging has given me a voice; a passion, a community, a career, and an irreplaceable support system that I need, want, and could not live without in my life.

Life will always present us with challenges, faulty pancreas or not. That doesn't mean we stop being or doing.
In fact, it's just the opposite, we learn new ways to continue doing, becoming and evolving.

And that my Diabetesalicious friends, is what living is all about!