I guess I’m a little surprised that Charlie is OK with me coming into his class to talk about diabetes now for the third straight year. Now that he’s getting older, I would expect him to be embarrassed and cringe at the sight of me at the classroom door. But no.

It’s a bit of a mystery, but I think it boils down to the fact that Charlie thinks that having diabetes makes him mildly famous. With a coy smile, Charlie sprung up from the carpeted area, joining me in the front of the class like a magician’s assistant. He unhooked his blue pump from his waist to show his classmates, showing all sides of it proudly as if it was a completed Rubik’s Cube.

It went well, I think. There was no heckling from the second graders and no one threw fresh fruit at me. I was happy about that. Though it never fails. There’s always one kid. You know the kid.

"Have any of you noticed that Charlie wears a small insulin pump on his waist? Or maybe you noticed that he goes down to the nurse’s office before he eats lunch?" I asked the class.

A few hands went up and then down but one remained up.

"Yes, in the back. You have a question?"

"Yeah. Who’s Charlie?"

There were some good questions such as "How did Charlie get diabetes?" and "Does diabetes ever go away?"

For the latter, I had a difficult time looking at Charlie as his eyes were on me, awaiting my answer.

"No. Not until scientists can find a cure." (gulp)

And then from my friend in the back again …

"Can people with diabetes have beer?"

"Beer?" I asked, making sure I heard him right.

"Yeah," he nodded.

"Well, uh, yes," I stuttered, caught off-guard. "But too much isn’t good for anyone."

My little joke about Charlie enjoying Miller Lite from a recent blog post was coming back to bite me. Hard.

"Whoah! So, he can have beer?" the boy said enviously, pointing to Charlie.

The boy in the back had me up against the ropes and I was stumbling.

"No, no," I said, looking at the teacher for guidance.

Suddenly I’m doing a public service announcement.

"What I mean is, responsible adults with diabetes can have beer as long as they don’t have too much and as long as they give themselves the right amount of insulin for it."

I had to change the subject before he threw me another curveball. Something that would make the blonde, gap-toothed girls in the front row smile from ear to ear and shout, "YEAH!!!"

"Who wants to see Charlie’s blood?"