What do you remember about being diagnosed with diabetes? Was it hard adjusting?
     I was diagnosed with I was 6, so I don't remember very much. I remember going to the doctor and doing the "pee test", but that was about it. I do remember being in the hospital on two occasions for a week apiece. But that was for teaching me about the disease.

Did the teaching work or was it too complicated? Did you understand what had happened?
     I didn't know what "diabetes" meant, persay, but what I learned quickly was that it involved needles and paying lots of attention to food and a finger prick thing. And that they were asking me to shoot up an orange, which was new for me. The teaching was more for my parents than it was for me.

As you got older and started school, how did you tell your friends about diabetes?
     Having had diabetes for the majority of my childhood didn't make it much of an option to tell my friends, but more of Just What We Did. My friends knew I was diabetic because their parents had to know in order for me to be able to go over their house. My mother wasn't going to send her 6 yr old off to someone's house who wasn't able to help me if I were to go low. And in elementary school, a little girl told the kids on the bus that I had AIDS because I had needles with me. That comment generated the involvement of my parents and caused me to give "talks" in the different classes to explain what diabetes was and what it involved. But in regards to my friends" My real friends... They knew about diabetes because they knew about me.  It's a small part of the big picture.

Was that generally how it was throughout high school?
     By high school, everyone pretty much knew. When kids were newly diagnosed, they were referred to me. And my friends and boyfriends never really gave much thought to it because I didn't make it seem like a huge deal.

How was the transition to college and starting off with a new(er) set of friends?
     The college transition was very similar:  I knew that no one here really knew me and that it was safer if there were a few people that knew I was diabetic. But my personality is very honest and approachable, so the conversations never became awkward. By the time I told them, it was comfortable enough to talk about. My college roommate knew. And I knew she played the cello. Facts are facts. But she had no idea I borrowed her shoes and lost them. I'll never tell that. 

Secret is safe with me. Did you ever deal with discrimination? From either teachers or peers? Or anyone...
     There was a girl in middle school who started a one woman club that "Hated Diabetics."  Her issues were ugly but thankfully not contagious. As far as employers, I've never had an issue at all. My high school boyfriend's mother told him to think twice about dating me because I was "sick," but her own ignorance was her undoing.  We dated for three years.  ;-)

When you were in high school, how involved were your parents in your diabetes management?
     My mother has always been very involved in my diabetes. She went to every appointment at Joslin from the time I was diagnosed to the time I told her that my boyfriend was going, instead. Watching her work so hard to make me healthy has been an inspiration. But of course we battled over it ... insanely, sometimes. My first Halloween after diagnosis, I ate a chocolate bar. She smelled the chocolate on my breath and completely flipped out. My father has been involved, more from the sidelines. He was active in politics and worked to pass the Childhood Disease bill when he was in the senate. But he let my mother handle most of the emotional aspects of my diabetes because he knew she could.

How was the transition from being a teenager living at home to being an adult? Did you feel prepared or was it overwhelming?
     I moved out of the house when I was 20, right after my senior year of college.  It was a forced transition because my parents were involved in a very stressful divorce that made living at home less of a long term option. I was prepared to care for myself as a diabetic, of course. I'd been doing it since the torch was "passed" when I got my license. It's my disease, so it's my responsibility to care for it. Even though my mother still gets very worried from time to time.  But that's a Mom Thing. Living out on my own was the same wild, tumultous, exciting, scary, completely excellent decision for me as it was for my friends.

Have you ever been depressed about having diabetes? How did you deal with that?
     I have never been clinically depressed, but I have been completely mired in misery about diabetes. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't been. But I do my best not to let it stalk me every day. Diabetes is not a death sentence. It's not this terrible disease that makes every day a trial and every moment arduous. It's something I have. And it's something I live with. Done deal. It has given me a Big Picture Perspective, though, that many of my friends did not have at the time. But it doesn't make or break me.  Bottom line. I have more to focus on in my life than diabetes, which makes it easier to deal with.

What kinds of things do you focus on? 
     My writing career. My loving family. My relationship with [my boyfriend] Chris. My stupid car. My equally stupid cats. Going out with my friends and laughing until we almost get thrown out of a place. Exploring new cities and thinking about all the possibilities that my life can offer me.

Let's talk about writing for a bit- have you always wanted to be a writer?
     Yes.  Since I was 5. I wrote my first poem at that point. It's been an on going thing since.

What do you like most about it?
     I like the way words sound when they're next to one another.  The English language has this beautiful and chaotic way of making everything sound limitless. And aside from enjoying the language, writing feels good for me. I have all these ideas that I need to get out. And I love feeling affected by what I've written.  And seeing that other people are affected, too. It feeds the process.

Your blog, Six Until Me, has become quite popular. Did you have any idea so many people would identify with it?
     No.  Way. It’s been the most pleasurable surprise. But I started it because I was looking for the Real Diabetic out there. Apparently I wasn't the only one looking for that voice.

How do you define "the Real Diabetic"?
     The one who isn't sporting a perfect bloodsugar all the time. The one who gets frustrated and angry and admits it. The one who has so much more to them than the disease. It's like seeing your elementary school teachers at the grocery store.  You only thought of them in the classroom setting.  Seeing what they eat makes them Real.  Makes you identify with them. Brings it all closer to home and makes it less scary.

What are your future writing plans? 
     I am working on my first book.  And I've been working on expanding my freelance career.

What kinds of things are you most interested in writing about?
     Diabetes has been the focus for the last year or so, but I've done a significant amount of memoir writing, poetry, and editorial-esque pieces.

Do you think you'll continue writing diabetes-related pieces?
     I think it comes naturally, so yes. But not limited entirely to diabetes writing.

Whatever comes?
     Sure. Writing, for me, isn't a forced process. So yes, whatever comes.

Who (or what) is your inspiration?
     For writing or in general?

Everything. Both, I guess.
     I find my parents to be very inspirational. And my two best friends. And my dear boyfriend. Famous people don't interest me. Except for Bono. And Larry Bird.