"Are You High?" And Other Lame Things We've Said in Public

All families have something unique about them.  Sometimes it's something small and hardly noticeable. Other times it's the everyone-knows-you're-odd kind of thing and it just can't be hid.  And after a while, whatever your family's particular uniqueness seems to be, it somehow slowly becomes quite normal to you and you forget that you've got something peculiar about you when you're in public.  In our family's case we're the weird family that doesn't eat a lot of sugar and has "di-uh-be-tis".  Everyone knows this about us, but we often forget.

Because of we've forgotten, we tend to say things in public which alarm the masses.  We get quizzical looks from people who are trying to understand what they're hearing.  We just go about our day making comments without realizing they might sound a little bizarre.

Here's a few things you might overhear us say to our kids if you happen to stand within ear shot of our family:

"Get a test."  This classic statement spews out many many times a day.  We think nothing of it until people give us an odd look and sometimes ask us just what kind of test we're about to give our kids.  Math? Spelling?  College entrance exam??  They're all wondering what kind of parent gives their children a pop quiz at the drop of a hat.

"Are you thirsty?"  This really isn't an odd question but when we pose it, it sounds unusual because of the negative suspicious tone in which we ask it.  This makes people wonder if we've punished our kids with some sort of diabolical water rationing system, which only heaps more public concern in our direction.


"Did you bolus?"  I'm not sure what they think when they overhear this one.  Perhaps they think it is code for passing gas in public.  Whatever they're thinking, it comes accompanied with a mild scorn and a quick veer in the opposite direction.  All they know is they don't want anything to do with a bolus, especially if it stinks.


"Where's your kit?" This always results in a confused look.  People's faces betray that 'what kit?' sort of look that gets their foreheads all scrunched up.  First aid kit?  Sewing kit?  Whatever-kinda-kit-are-you-looking-for? discombobulated look.  What we mean is "Testing Kit".  Honestly, I couldn't really tell you just when or exactly why we ended up calling our kid's meters & case  "The Kit", it just somehow happened.  It makes sense to us but we can tell it confuses everyone else.

But the question that gets most people really really shaking their heads...


"Are you high?"  This one is the mother of all misinterpretations.  Unfortunately it took us a really long time before we figured out it could mean something quite different to the non-diabetic ear, but it made complete sense to us.  While WE were talking about blood sugars everyone else was thinking substance abuse!  It never crossed our minds to ask this question in hushed tones as if something was really bad about it.  We forget that innocent bystanders who happen to overhear our conversations are alarmed because they assume we're derelict parents who have an inappropriately casual attitude with which we talk about what they think is drug usage.  What's worse, folks really seem alarmed when we ask our ten year old daughter this question, and slightly less offended when we ask our seventeen year old son.  Craziness indeed.

Talking quietly is not an option.  We're just not that kind of subdued family-even though at times I wish we were.   So we put up with the occasional odd looks we get from eavesdroppers.  It just reminds us that we are indeed a weird family, which, I suppose,  makes us just like everyone else...unique.