Our Meet And Greet With Carey And Family

I've tried to think of clever ways to write this post. I wrote versions in my head on the way back from meeting them. I wrote yet more versions in my gray matter on my 6 hour drive back home.

But let me get to the point:

Carey and Susanne, their kids, as well as Carey's mom are just the nicest goddamned people you ever want to meet.

Cases in point:

Originally, we were going to meet at a restaurant....6 kids and 4 adults. Need I say more?

But, Carey's mom suggested we all meet and have lunch at her place. Which I must say put my mind at ease that they didn't think I was a blogging weirdo... :D

That's nice, isn't it?

I shook hands with Carey who looks just like his pictures and did NOT sound like Mike Tyson at all. I had imagined that there has got to be something about him that blogging doesn't reveal and thought, well maybe he sounds like Mike Tyson. But, he has a very nice sounding man-voice.

Susanne is the nicest person and has the most gorgeous bone structure....as well as beautiful curly hair...(damn her!). We have much more in common than we'd like. We're the mothers of two boys with diabetes who like to negotiate the hell out of everything ;)

Carey's mom. What can I say about her other than she is no typical Nana. She had just gotten back from the gym when we got to her place. She's 30 going on 21. And she wants to get a tribal tattoo across her lower back. My kids pretty much adopted her as their own Nana. She's beyond cool.

So, I have admit there was some nervousness on my part. I have my 3 kids in someone's beautiful house...I prayed that they'd be on their best behavior. Jeff and I are meeting Carey and Susanne for the first time....I prayed that I would have plenty to talk about and not sit there staring at them trying to find things to talk about.

Well, I'll tell you that conversation flowed nicely (it's all about nice here). We felt comfortable and at ease.

The kids got along great. Other than Maeve coming to us saying the boys (meaning Charlie and Brendon) were wrestling with her for no reason, they became fast friends.

After lunch we walked to the boardwalk for fun and games. I talked with Carey's mom. Carey talked with Jeff. I talked with Susanne. Carey's mom talked with Jeff. I talked with Carey. Everyone mixed and mingled as we walked.

Since there were 6 kids, there was a natural pairing off.

I thought Charlie and Brendon would hit it off. They did. Being the only two girls in the bunch, Maeve and Jessica hit it off to my relief. Jessica can be a little shy sometimes (understatement). The age difference between Jacob and Ben isn't far, but with the ages that they are right now, they just couldn't relate to each other...yet. But, I see it happening in the future. They're the quintessential 3rd child...and they need each other ;)

I don't know at what point this happened, but there was a shift in the pairings. Brendon and Maeve drifted together. And Jessica and Charlie were connected at the shoulders. This was how it was basically the whole time we were at the boardwalk.

In fact, Brendon felt so comfortable with Maeve, that when Susanne asked if she felt like she was getting sunburned, Brendon...being oh so protective of his new friend, pulled away Maeve's spaghetti straps to check for signs of sunburn. "No", he said, inspecting her skin. "She doesn't look like she's burning." He's a smooth operator.

Brendon' s blood sugars started dropping while we taking them to the rides and he became uncertain about the speed of the Merry-Go-Round that he and Maeve were waiting to start on. So he got off the horse. We gave him juice, cut back his basal, and gathered the kids to get on the train together. But he was uncertain about the speed of that too. His blood sugar was messing with his head. He's cautious by nature, but being low exaggerated it to the Nth degree. Maeve asked Jeff if Brendon was going to be O.K. She was concerned. She was a good friend. He eventually snapped out of his low induced speed cautiousness and eventually was able to relax and have a great time.

Charlie wanted Jessica to go on the motorcycles with him. She happily went along. He wanted her to sit on the back of HIS motorcycle. Jessica wanted her own. But he insisted that it was important that she sit in the back of him and hold on. They were buddies and it was essential that they not leave each other's side.... But they were separated for all of 5 minutes. Jessica hopped onto her own bike.

Picture time came. I forgot my camera, but being the awesome blogger that he is, Carey brought his.

There is a picture you may see soon of Brendon and Charlie standing side by side. Before the picture was taken, Brendon's shirt was haphazardly showing off his pump pak. Charlie noticed this and said, "I want to show my pump too". He lifted his shirt and tucked it in back of his pump, put his arm around Brendon and smiled for the camera.

I turned to Susanne and told her what I saw and heard. I told her it was cute, but bittersweet. We both agreed that it was sad. The boys don't know any different. There is a 2 year age gap between them, but they were diagnosed as toddlers in the same month...different year, I believe. I think Charlie was happy to have something in common with another boy for the first time.....despite the meaning of it.

I don't know about them, but I honestly felt completely comfortable and at ease with every one of Carey's family members, Carey included of course ;)

I was happy we all got to meet and I hope we can do it again sometime soon.