Gary, my story is a little different. We hung up our stockings by the fireplace yesterday, a day early. Last night I heard some tip-toeing on the roof, clickety-click, and then the dogs set up quite a clatter in the kitchen. Barking, yipping, howling... This morning I checked the stockings, and there was a potato in each, even the dogs'!
The backstory: When I was a little girl, my Grandpa used to threaten me with putting a potato in my stocking if I wasn't good, and he did it! So, Grandpa must have told the "gentleman in red" to give us potatoes this year! Tonight, by golly, we'll have potatoes for dinner...
this is a great line-diabetes does not have to stand in the way of finding happiness. i could go on and on about why this is such a lovely poem, but i will put down my english major hat for now
ok, i can’t resist putting on my english major hat again!!! in this poem you have a traditional image of the night before christmas and the arrival of santa- the associations are ones of innocence and magic. this image is juxtaposed with the image of a person with diabetes needing to get up in the middle of the night to correct bg. here night is in reality a time that can be a dangerous one for PWD, a time which sometimes even leads to death. but even with the gravity of living with diabetes, the person getting up to give himself life-saving insulin is not only enjoying the beauty of the snow, he is also graciously apologetic to santa. santa’s memory of the man as child contrasts and blends the magic and innocence of a child’s belief in santa with the suffering that children with diabetes go through. what i mean is that a child simultaneously can hold within themselves an ethereal, angel-like nature while at the same time experiencing earthly, hard to make sense of suffering. santa shows compassion, and the man who has stumbled upon santa shows that he has risen to the burden of diabetes with grace. in the end, happiness and a good night (with horizontal arrows) for all. i love this poem!!!
PS extra levels of excellence for the sleeping and beeping rhyme- humor in all situations!!!
You should submit this to magazines. It might only be of interest to diabetes magazines, which aren’t known for their poetry, but its definitely good enough to be published.
A cure for diabetes used to be my Christmas wish every year when I was a kid. I hadn’t seen this poem before but it pretty much describes most diabetics life in a nutshell. Getting up to treat BG issues but still having faith and believing in the possibility of a cure even if it comes from old Saint Nick. Merry Christmas everyone!
Gary, well done! As much time as I’ve spent on TuD over the years, I missed this when it originally appeared. I particularly like this section as it deals with the classic tension between hope and reality that we as people with diabetes must face. It also hints at the injustice of a child forced to live with a chronic life-threatening condition.
