Day 3 – Clean It Out!“Yesterday we kept stuff in, so today let’s clear stuff out. What is in your diabetic closet that needs to be cleaned out? This can be an actual physical belonging, or it can be something you’re mentally or emotionally hanging on to. Why are you keeping it and why do you need to get rid of it? (Thank you Rick of RA Diabetes for this topic suggestion.)”

Day three & it’s time for a clear out!

I’m a natural born hoarder. I live in a house with a playroom crammed with every wooden toy ever made for every age group from birth to teens! There isn’t a shoe that has been cast aside once outgrown without a period of a good few years passing “just in case”. (And with 4 females in the household, let me tell you, that’s a whole tonnage of shoes!)

I should have a mass clear out. It’d probably give all five of us room to breath again, but occasionally I come across an item which reinforces why I’m such a hoarder. I’ll pull open a drawer or clear out a cupboard & find an item there that tells a story instantly. Just the action of laying my eyes upon it conjures up memories & feelings from a precise moment in time.

Just such an experience happened yesterday whilst I was searching for lost sock. I pulled open Pumplette’s top drawer & whilst rummaging through put my hand upon this.

This tatty, old bag, that used to boast beautiful decorative beading, belongs to Pumplette. Eleven years ago, you’d never see her without this bag worn across her body. For this was the pouch we used to contain her first insulin pump. This bag was almost as long as her little chubby baby thigh, the exact size of that early, first pump for her. We also had one in pink, you can spot it in the pictures, but that was worn to the point of disintegration!!

I keep these items to remind me of how far we have travelled & what a spectacular journey Pumplette has made thus far. For sometimes today, when she’s being obstreperous & stubborn, I need to remind myself that this is a good thing & that she has always been that way, even from tiny. How could she not be? It was that tenacity that ensured she clung on before diagnosis and could grow into the spirited & talented young lady she is today.

So I’ll keep hold of these things & not clear them out. The memories make me smile & my heart swell with pride.