Road Trip

There has been a lot going on these past few months : TD was sick, her brother left home to study at Cambridge University, her Gran and Grandad have been unwell and the technology project for the term was to build and race a go kart. (And TD was the only member of the group with a working knowledge of hammers, screwdrivers and washers.)  We were all tired, and needed a change of scenery.

So, during the one week school break, the three of us went road tripping.  Andrew hauled out the big map, looked at which roads we had not yet coloured over in red pen (to signify we had already travelled on them) and plotted a route, exploring a few villages and towns close to Cape Town.
Packing was easy: Jeans, t-shirts, swimming costumes, walking shoes and some warm tops, cellphone chargers and an abundance of books.

And ice blocks, cooler bags, extra insulin, emergency glucogen kit, wholewheat bread and cheese for meal emergencies, extra testing strips, one ketone testing strip (well, you never know...) , quick acting glucose sachets, super c sweets, extra needles....  You know - all the usual stuff everyone takes on holiday.  At least everyone who is travelling with T1.

Diabetes takes no holidays.  It is not something we can relax about for a week (or a day) or just decide to take a break from.  It is a relentless disease, unforgiving of forgetfulness, dangerous to tune out.  Holidays or ordinary days, every morning we test TD at 6am, we wake at 2am if needed to check her sugars, we don't skip meals.  None of this bothers us in the slightest.  I suppose we no longer see diabetes as a disease, rather as a new way of life.

The road trip was lovely.  We stood on the beach at the southern most tip of Africa, we spent a whole day at the natural hot springs soaking up sun and catching up some reading.  We ate delicious foods.  We listened to all the latest trendy music (Thanks TD for the compilation!).  We recharged our batteries, missed our son, basked in the wonderfulness of our surroundings and made memories that will last forever.