This photograph is of me, at my grade eight graduation, with my date, Tyler. It represents a major turning point in my life with not just one event, but three. These events are unrelated but intertwine to make me who I am today. The first is the transition from elementary school to high school. The second is the beginning of my relationship with Tyler. The third event can barely be seen but is represented by the hospital bracelet on my wrist as remembrance of my diagnosis of diabetes the week before.
I believe that the transition between middle school and high school is huge for everyone and then slightly more so for me. I went from being a shy, quiet girl with two best friends and a semi-normal life to a quiet, but more outgoing, girl with a boyfriend, one best friend and a disease in one short summer. My friend Brittany had decided that she liked Tyler too when she found out that I did and she never really got over it. That summer we drifted farther and farther apart and by the time school started she wasn’t talking to me at all. This upset me for a while, but with high school came new friendships and experiences.
High school also brought new thoughts and ways of learning. Most of the teachers would talk to you and treat you as an adult and not as a silly child. They would encourage questions and open-mindedness. Having these figures in my life helped me to develop my own beliefs and values and not just listen to the things that other people thought.
There is one person in my life that has changed me and helped me grow more than anyone else that I met in school. This person is Tyler. I can’t even remember how long I’ve had feelings for Tyler. He was my elementary school crush. The only problem was that he had a crush on my best friend, Brittany. Brittany was never interested in him until grade eight when she found out that I was. By then it was too late. Tyler had already asked me to go to graduation with him and officially began dating a few weeks later.
Tyler and I have practically opposite personalities. This has helped us both to grow in different ways. I have always been a quiet person. I keep to myself and think things out before I do them. Tyler, on the other hand, is outgoing and can befriend anyone within five minutes. He lives in the moment and does what he wants whenever the thought strikes him. In Tyler, I found someone that I can confide in. Talking to him about my life and thoughts made it easier to let other people in as well. Tyler helped me to find a sense of belonging that wasn’t always in my life.
Tyler has also helped me to love my family for what it is. My parents may be split up, but we’re all happy. Seeing Tyler’s parents married, but miserable, gave me a new appreciation for my own strange home situations. Tyler is one of the few people who would accept me and my life for what it is.
All of these new thoughts and events almost didn’t happen, because I nearly died. Weeks, or even months, before graduation, I was sick. I never really felt well or completely myself. Then, about a week before graduation, it reached its peak. I became disoriented and practically incommunicable. My parents rushed me to the hospital where they realized that I had diabetic ketoacidosis. My blood was acidic and my body was trying to make energy by turning fat cells into ketones; I was dying. After nearly two days of being unconscious I finally woke up. The diagnosis shocked me. Suddenly I had to check my blood sugar, take at least four needles a day and know how many carbohydrates were in everything that I ate. Not only that, but if I didn’t do all of this, I would certainly go blind, have my feet amputated and die of heart disease.
I will always be thankful that my parents helped me but also gave me almost complete control over my disease. This gave me, at the age of fourteen, more responsibility than I had ever had before. I adjusted quickly to the routine and now, after almost four years, it often seems like I don’t even have diabetes because I feel that I live my life just like everyone else.
My diabetes has never been a source of embarrassment for me. It’s the opposite really. I enjoy talking about my disease. I read about teens whose friends, boyfriends and girlfriends don’t even know that they have it. I am the opposite, I have DIABETIC tattooed on my wrist and everyone knows that I am one. I won’t let this disease control me or define who I am. I do embrace the sense of responsibility and accomplishment that being diabetic has given me.
These three events would never have been linked under normal circumstances. They say that everything comes in threes and this has often been true in my life. These three unrelated events all happened to me at the same time and they ended up changing my life, who I am and who I will eventually become.
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