Somewhere in between hello and goodbye, there was love, so much love. ~ unknown
Dylan was on this earth, 21 years, 4 months and 9 days. Some of the best days of my life. It is no wonder I am so equipped to honor him. It is something I did from day one. He was diagnosed at 6 years, 9 months. For one year, he received injections twice daily based on a set amount of carbs per meal. This was not easy, as anyone with kids knows they do not always feel like eating "everything" or are not cooperative. In fact, I don't always finish my salad which I myself plan.
To say things became easy a year later when he went onto a pump is a lie; back in 1997 things were very different. The internet was just becoming useful but information was limited. There were no facebook groups, no instagram to "follow" people with similar lifestyles or interests, no apps for our phones to look up carbs and "diabetes friendly" recipes and there was no such thing as pinterest. Regardless, we were grateful to have the pump available to us and what resources we had.
Our lives were not ideal for a very long time. However there was one thing that held our little tribe together; and that was love. Pure, patient, compassionate and loyal LOVE.
Flash forward a lifetime; Dylan's tribe persisted. It was not always true (despite Dylan's opinion), life did not always revolve around Dylan. It revolved around a million other things like change, obstacles, a lot of moving, siblings, moving and more siblings. Dylan loved nothing more than family. If you knew him and he loved you, you were family.
Dylan lived his life like he was unstoppable; and he was, until T1D took him. He dreamed of being a teacher and was passionate about being a good role model to children and teaching them. He dreamed of bigger places, traveling, having a family of his own, molding young minds in the classroom and on the basketball court or baseball field. Knowing what a loving, loyal, committed and influential young man he was, it does not surprise me how respected and loved he is.
Not a second of my day goes by where he is not present, in my heart and on my mind.