Diabetes,

I want you to know I'm stronger than you.

I can pretty much manage you all by myself. I just went on a sleepaway school trip in the mountains, and I mostly managed my numbers on my own, except for at night. My mom was nervous and so was I, but it ended up going well and being fun.

What’s frustrating is that people think I can't have sugar, or that I'm unhealthy. That's not true. What’s really hard is when I'm low or high and nobody can tell just by looking at me. When I'm low, I can't focus. My brain feels like it's somewhere else completely, and it's hard to do anything especially in school or soccer.

One of my earliest diabetes memories is drinking a juice box in kindergarten because I was low, and a kid said, "no fair." Buddy, if you only knew.

One good thing about diabetes is that I get candy when I’m low and a lot of exceptions. So there's that.

I'm still stronger than you.