Did you know yesterday was ‘Siblings Day’. I didn’t. It is not National Siblings Day because it would need a presidential order for that and thus far only 41 state’s governors have recognized it. But it is the goal of the organization to obtain all 50 and 3 more are pending according to their website at www.siblingsday.org. (I found many of the links did not operate, but the content looked intriguing, I hope they fix the links in short order).
The idea was the brain-child of a para-legal in New York named Claudia Evart who lost two of her siblings at a young age. The date of April 10th was chosen because it is the birthday of one of those siblings who passed.
I find this holiday rather interesting because as any parent of a child with diabetes will tell you, the siblings are the true unsung heroes in this battle with diabetes. I can not tell you how many times in our lives that our son, TJ, had to be by-passed or told to wait because we were dealing with Kaitlyn’s diabetes. I am sure he was angered on more than one occasion and I am sure he hated diabetes as much as we do.
He never said a word.
TJ is a strong man both physically and mentally. His loyalty to his friends are noteworthy and he will look you in the eye when he meets you with a strong handshake. He is a volunteer fireman and if central casting was casting that role, TJ fits it to the letter. He regards his brothers and sisters within the department in high esteem.
Of course as a father I have my disclaimers as I know he is not a saint and he knows his faults and works on them as we all do. But if I had one person in this world to face an adversity; a gang fight, a wall of fire, an accident, or anything else—I would choose to have my son, TJ, behind me. If there is one thing I know about my son, if you are family or friend, he’ll have your back to the bitter end.
That is a nice trait.
I have seen TJ cry just a few times in my life. Those will stay with me but I will share that one of those times was when he and I were alone after his little brother was diagnosed with diabetes. I saw him try to gain every ounce of strength he could muster to see if there was a way he could take on the pain where is brother would not have to deal with diabetes. Alas, as that thought was in vain, and his frustration made him break down.
“Not Bobby”, he said through his tears. “I don’t know if he is as strong as Kaitlyn is.” I will never forget those two phrases as long as I live. Of course, as it turns out, Kaitlyn was on a mission once Rob was diagnosed and because of this love among siblings; Rob is doing very well on this journey.
Siblings. For those of us who have diabetes as the ‘new normal’ let’s not forget everything they must undertake every day; whether age 1 or 91……so happy Siblings Day…..I know the three in my house make me proud every day; who could ask for anything more?
Let us know about yours.
I am a diabetes dad.
Please visit my Diabetes Dad FB Page and hit ‘like’.
One reply on “Happy Siblings Day……How Important are the Ones in Your New Normal?”
I often fear how our youngest (9) is dealing with all the attention our newly diagnosed T1D 12 year old. She has to deal with a sister who is going through puberty and, therefore not always fun to be around. Now she is dealing with a sister who is also dealing with all the stages of grief due to her recent diagnosis. We do as much as we can to make the 9 year old feel loved and included. Sadly, won’t know the outcome of all our efforts for many years.