2017 A New Year: A New Stage.

While I haven't been blogging as much as I used to, time has certainly not stopped, me or The Naturally Sweet Sisters, from experiencing the many rapid changes that the teen years bring about. Our house seems to contain a different energy than it once did; busy, electric, exciting and most of all, forcefully propelling our family forward into the years of young adulthood.  I think my absence from blogging is a futile attempt to try to slow and maybe, savor these fleeting days, despite that nagging little voice that continually counts down the time remaining in which the four of us are together.

Next Christmas, she will be a junior in high school.

The Christmas after, she will be a senior.

Then, just months later, she will be off to college.  

And her little sister? Following right behind.

What I have discovered is that my patience is perhaps greater with knowing this a time of great change.  

Our oldest rarely misses a bolus, stays on top of changing her sites and has developed a new desire to make tiny pump corrections - just so she continues to feel well.  All of these tasks developed through the last few years and in some artful way, slowly came into focus as part of her daily routine.  

What I say is far less important than how I react.

For those moments where our girls 'forget' or ignore their T1D care, the way that I react is much more important than anything that I say (let's be real - yell) or demand.  Finding that compassion and understanding in what went wrong and guiding each of the girls to discovering their own resolution is much more important.  I can no longer swoop in and save the day.  Now is the time for their own solutions.  

Time is the greatest gift.

As these last few teen years unfold, complete with growing pains and amazing discoveries, I know that I want to continue to be there to see it all.  My youngest daughter recently snuggled up to me on the couch and whispered that she was glad that she could share what was happening in her life - this after a rather difficult conversation about the woes of social media.  Her little hug was a mixture of relief, support and love, because no matter how grown they are, they still have the need to be connected to their parents.  

We are their foundation, their glue and as I always say, their back-up pancreas.  

They will never be alone.