Certain family members (all of them except my brother) like to give me grief about my ability to get rid of "stuff" too easily. For me, a simple life with as little clutter as possible makes me happy. Recently, though, I had to give up an item that we've had in our possession for nearly 4 years and it made me rather melancholy.
We were having some delivery issues with Chase's insulin pump. The clinic urged us to call Medtronic since we were getting close to the end of our warranty. We figured out the no delivery issues, but ended up receiving a replacement pump since Chase's old pump was so scratched up that it was getting hard to see the numbers. The deal was that they would overnight us a new pump, but we needed to send them our old pump. I felt a lump in my throat at the thought of letting it go (I would have had to pay $3,600 to keep it, so the lump didn't last long).
Gary asked what I would do with the old pump if I could keep it. I told him that I would frame it and put it in his baby book with a heading "Baby's First Insulin Pump". Truthfully, when I looked at the old pump, I saw this little machine that allowed us to walk from the dark into the light. The first month Chase was on the pump, we saw dramatic improvements in his blood sugars, his energy levels skyrocketed, and he grew an inch! It also gave him the freedom to eat normally, to go to birthday parties, day care, school, you name it, with greater ease. Mostly, I think it was because Chase wore that pump 24/7, so in a way, I felt like I was giving up a piece of him.
Luckily, the new pump looks exactly like the old pump (we asked the Medtronic rep to please make sure that we didn't receive a pink pump or we'd we in for a world of hurt). We swapped the old for the new and life is back to normal.
Lately I've been slowly getting rid of the kids' baby items (crib, highchair, stroller). I've had some hesitation to getting rid of these items since they hold such great memories, but I know that there are other great memories awaiting us with other possessions.
And I know that if I'm patient enough, the dream of a cure will replace any feelings I have toward insulin pumps! For a cure is more important than any thing I own.
(Okay, I still do wish that I would have gotten to keep the old pump.)
