Positoovity

Today I'm gonna mix a little music and a little diabetes. :) Since it's my designated Music Monday, I figured I'd get 2 in one.
Earlier today Allison blogged about the choice of words. Basically, how we see ourselves as diabetics (or people with diabetes). Her question was "Suffering from, or living with?" I whole-heartedly believe that I live with diabetes. In my comment on her blog, I compared it to a crappy roommate you can't get rid of because of the lease. Some days are easier to live with the roommate than others. She pointed out that she didn't sign a lease and that she preferred to look at it like an annoying little brother. I think I like her analogy better than mine.

I got my analogy from the only bad living situation I ever had, which was a crappy roommate. Both my siblings are so far away from me in age there's not a lot of "annoying sibling" stuff in my life. We won't ask Allison how she relates to her "little brother" analogy. ;)

Allison is right though. None of us signed a lease. We just got stuck with it. And we live with it the best way we know how.
I do think, however, that our attitudes have everything to do with what category we fall into. To me, one who "suffers" from diabetes is letting diabetes have the upper hand. One who "lives with" diabetes has found a way to co-habitate. I think a lot of us in the D-OC have become people who "live with" diabetes. I won't say all, because there are always the exception to the rule, but I think the D-OC has helped me, and probably a lot of you, pick the more positive category.
No matter how much that little brother known as diabetes may annoy us, and drive us up the wall, deep down we can still appreciate it. Maybe not love diabetes, but was can love what diabetes has given us. For me, diabetes has given me a world of online friends and a wonderful support system. It has given me strength in ways I'm not sure I ever would have had on my own. And diabetes is just as much a part of my life as my big brother or my little sister...the only difference is that diabetes is slightly more annoying. :P
Now for the music....and come to think of it, the theater connection to my post. There's a song that was in The Little Mermaid on Broadway (which I was lucky enough to get to see on my last trip to the Big Apple) that was sung by Scuttle the Seagull. It's called Positoovity. And that's what I want to have. Positoovity about diabetes. Positoovity about life. Yes, the song's silly. But I think, just like a silly song, that our attitude's have everything to do with how we live our lives, with or without diabetes.