Thankful for Friends

I am a wordy person - and this post is proof of that!

I'm not going to post something everyday that I'm thankful for for the month of November...I'm thankful for everything and can't spell them all out every day - but this weekend I was overcome with gratitude for a person who I seem to becoming better friends with every day.  I have known this person since college and we've stayed in touch here and there via blogs, facebook etc, but lately have even "hung out" some outside of the virtual world we are used to hanging out in!  This person knows who they are, I am not going to call them out.  But I wanted to share a little something as to why I am so thankful for them right now...

When Zane was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes almost 3 years ago (good God time flies) - its weird what the first thoughts that went through my head after the initial shock wore off were.  Some of these thoughts were: what happens when he goes to college and wants to drink? (mind you, he was 3 at dx, but I'm no idiot and I know what happens in college and knew that he'd grow up and go and want to partake in the college experiences).  I also had (and stll do) visions of breaking into his dorm room and checking his blood sugar in the middle of the night.  I also wondered what happens when he is invited to a sleep over? and another thought was what happens when he's old enough to be invited to birthday parties that are drop-off parties?.  And with these last 2 thoughts - I even wondered WOULD he be invited to drop-off parties and/or sleep overs or would he be left out because of his Diabetes? Since he was only 3 at diagnosis, these things were very far off from reality, but still things I knew we'd most likely have to deal with at some time.

I received a text this weekend from this friend and it said: "I just sent you an evite for (insert her child's name) birthday party. Its a drop off party, but we can talk.  (Insert her child's name) wont care if you stay, but I don't want Zane to feel bad.  I know you do what you can to not let D effect others, but I want to do what I can.  Its ok to have friends go out of their way to make things go smoothly, so tell me what you'd like to do and we'll do it.  I heart Zane and I'm glad our boys have fun together."

I know that this friend was being just that...a friend, but what they didn't know is that that text brought tears to my eyes.  This friend has no experience with Diabetes and even very little experience with Zane in general - but the fact that they didn't hesistate at all in inviting Zane AND asking what we can do to make it happen is something that I know not all of my friends or friends of Zane will/would do.

I talked to Zane the next morning and told him about this party and told him that no parents were allowed, except the birthday boys' parents - his first response was "that's cool"!  I asked him what he thought we could do about his Diabetes at the party and he said that he'd just ask how many carbs were in the food and if they didn't know, he wouldn't eat it and would just bring it home with him!  I informed him that he WOULD be able to eat it and wouldn't go hungry and that I'd work with the mom on his food stuff and we'd make it work one way or another.  He gave a few more suggestions and then went about his day.  He doesn't let D keep him from anything and I will do all I can to make sure it doesn't as well.

I'm very proud of Zane and his ability to grasp so much about his care at such a young age and be so mature about it.  I'm proud of him for not letting it stop him from anything - he doesn't even think twice about it.  I'm proud to call him my son.

But, I'm also proud of my friend - she didn't think twice (at least I don't think so, ha) about including Zane on her child's birthday invite - she didn't try to talk her son out of inviting Zane because it would be too much work/trouble for her or me - she didn't tell me, that even though its a drop-off party that I would need to stay if Zane attended.  Instead, she told me that we would talk and make it work and she'd learn/do whatever she needed to do to make sure Zane could come and have fun like the other boys.

For this and more, I am thankful for this friend - you know who you are - so thank you very much.

PS - Zane also has his first non-family sleep over since diagnosis coming up this weekend!  Granted the boy who's house he's going to also has Type 1 and the mom does too - but still its a big step for me to allow someone besides family watch/keep guard over him for 24 hours.