Just Lucky, I Guess

Today's topic - Chinese food.  I'm not talking all-you-can-eat buffets.  I'm talking real Chinese food made from scratch.  I'm talking the Rice Bowl in Mandan (voted top 100 Chinese restaurant in the US for a reason).  Gary and I frequented it so often that they gave us a baby gift before Chase was born.  Chase received a Christmas gift from them the following year even though they had to vacuum up after him every time we visited.

Now, almost 11 years later, it isn't a surprise that he asks to go there often (if only the budget would allow).  For a kid who is a picky eater, it is wonderful to see him down egg drop soup, hoard the crispy tofu, and savor chicken and vegetable stir fry.  When the fortune cookies come out at the end of the meal, the kids go wild.  They love to read their fortunes and hear ours. 

A recent trip to the Rice Bowl left us with one of our favorite fortunes so far:

"To be lucky is a lot of work." 

Amen, brother. 

Amen.

I used to say we were lucky.  Lucky because Chase is an easy going kid.  Lucky because we have great health insurance.  Lucky because he is on a insulin pump.  Lucky because he hasn't had any severe high or lows that have required hospitalizations.  We are lucky! 

Is it luck, though?

Chase is an easy going kid because that is who he is.  Period.  He's been that way since day one.  His sister and brother are another story...

We have awesome health insurance because it goes with our jobs.  We have our jobs because we've worked hard to obtain them.  Would we love higher paying jobs?  Would we love to live somewhere warmer?  Heck ya, but we know that leaving our health benefits would greatly impact his level of care.  We will endure horrible winter after horrible winter to keep him healthy if that is what it takes.  Ask me how lucky I feel in January.

The transition from shots to an insulin pump went very well (it helped that the boy LOVES electronic devices).  Was it luck or did it take some convincing on our part to get our medical team to allow it?  Was there a tremendous amount of work to get insurance to approve it?  It was work.

Are we lucky he hasn't been hospitalized due to diabetic complications?  If luck is working 24/7 365 to manage his blood sugars, then yes, we are lucky.  A minor cold can turn to into something wicked in a child with type 1.  We don't count on luck to get us through illness.  We do all we can to get him over what ails him as quickly as possible. We religiously meet our diabetic care team every three months to go over his A1c test results.  Lately we've had to fight to make sure the school provides glucagon in the case of a severe low. It has been a decade of hard work to keep him safe. 

It took a cookie for me to see luck differently.  I hope my kids find that the harder they work the luckier they will be in life. 

And, I hope when they come for a visit, they will take their mom to the Rice Bowl.