I was just sitting at my desk working on an extremely important project (FDL standings) when a co-worker stopped in his tracks as he walked by my desk, squinting into my eyes.

"Whoa! What happened to you?"

"Huh?"

"Did you get beat up?"

"What? No." I didn't know what the hell he was talking about.

"The purple under your eyes. Looks like you got beat up," he continued.

"Oh, that?" I said, touching the corner of my eye near the bridge of my nose. "No, that's just lack of sleep, I guess. That's what getting up every night at two or three in the morning will do to you."

I was still slightly stunned by the question. Damn, I thought to myself. Do I really look that bad? I didn't feel especially tired. I do, however, often feel that the management of this disease is aging me at warp speed. We're very much conditioned for being up at all hours of the night after doing it for so long, but surely it must take a toll. On brains. On skin. On eyes. On muscles. He's right. I have been getting beat up.

"Three in the morning? What, do you have a sick kid at home?" he chuckled.

"Well," I said, "sort of."

"My son has diabetes, so we have to get up often in the middle of the night to test his blood sugar."

"Oh, that's right," he said. "I'm sorry."

How does he even know about my son, I wonder? Who's talking to him about my son?

Suddenly he's extremely concerned about me, urging me to go home and get some sleep. How it does no good for any of us if I'm too tired to work. Huh? I barely know the guy. I explain to him that there's no way I can just waltz in the door in the mid-afternoon and express to my wife that I'm in need of some nappy time while she chases the wild herd around the house, just as tired as I am. It doesn't work that way. Plus, it's much more relaxing here at work. We've been at this for four years and will be for many more, I tell him. I'll be alright.

Minutes after he walks away, the office nurse strolls on over.
"Someone's worried about you," she says, motioning to my portly co-worker across the room who has now returned to his desk.

"Just so you know, if you ever need to lie down for a little while, there's a rest area in my office."

Bizarre!

Like I would ever do that! (wink, wink).