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November 21st, 2009
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Charlie woke me up at 5:15 am with his pump in one hand, his pants in the other and something clearly on his mind as he spoke a mile a minute.

"I was looking for blue pants and I couldn't find any so I found these black pants but I'm not sure these match so I wanted to see if you could get the blue pants out of the dryer because you said we were leaving right after breakfast and I don't want to be late ,"

Surely this was a dream. Didn't I just close my eyes to go to sleep thirty seconds ago? It couldn't be.

"Charlie, it's 5:15 am. We're not leaving for a while. Go back to bed."

That wasn't about to happen. He even slept in his Charlie's Angels t-shirt. He couldn't contain his excitement. He was so excited that we were greeted with a blood sugar of 300 at 6:45 am after he was fine in the middle of the night.

Still better than the large ketones and vomiting we experienced just prior to last year's walk.

"I don't like that number," Charlie says.

"You want to feel good today, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Well, let me give you some insulin. We'll get you down, OK Smooch?"

After a week of nasty weather, we couldn't have asked for a better day. The sun was shining and team Charlie's Angels assembled for the walk, 45 strong.

Well, we didn't win the walk as it turns out it's not a competitive race, but it sure felt like we won. Charlie was happy. Really happy. He strolled with his lady, he mingled with different clusters of Angels throughout the course and did some shoulder hopping from dad to uncles and back to dad again. He felt like the star of the show and loved every minute of it. He was Sir Charles the Brave, just like the t-shirts said.

He was feeling the love from them and them and him and them and these dudes and of course them.

I didn't see anyone testing blood sugar nor did I see any pumps. Not one person. Charlie didn't either. He even asked if there were people with diabetes at the walk.

"Lots," I told him. "It's hard to tell if someone has diabetes because you look just like regular kids, ya know?"

"I want people to know I have diabetes," Charlie said.

"Why is that," I asked.

Charlie shrugged his shoulders.

"Just do."

After the walk, a few of us went to the very picturesque Rutgers Gardens where we enjoyed some of Susanne's delicious chocolate cookies and pumpkin bread and let the kids run through the lush landscape and enter an enchanted bamboo forest.

Maeve announced "I'm 100 percent monkey!" to those who didn't already know.

Ben prepared for prison life.

Charlie may have killed a rare one-of-a-kind plant species with pee because he "couldn't hold it." [I don't have a photo of that.]

Our deepest thanks to everyone who has supported us in this year's fundraising for a cure. I'm thrilled to report that Charlie's Angels raised a whopping [hold on your hats] $20,000!

"This was the best day ever," Charlie said in the car as we drove home.

"I hope I always remember this day," he continued, clutching his smooth piece of green bamboo before drifting off to sleep.



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I'm happy to see you guys had a successful and fun walk. Thanks for raising so much money...my jaw had dropped to the floor.

Those are mighty fancy t-shirts! And you have a gorgeous family :)


The best part of this is how happy Charlie was... But the second best part (a very close second) - $20,000???? Holy crap, that's as much as some organizations raise with an entire walk. Congratulations, guys! And thank you. :)


$20,000? Wow.

Awesome T-shirts for Sir Charlie the Brave. It looks like you had a lot of support from family and friends. That is always a plus.

I'm so glad Charlie enjoyed it. My hope is one day he'll be able to enjoy a cure party instead. (Not the band, the rid of disease kind.)

Thank you, thank you, thank you for doing this.


Congrats! A successful walk all around!


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Carey Potash
Carey PotashCarey is a full-time hater of diabetes. The benefits stink. His 7-year-old son, Charlie, has been giving he and his wife the finger since November of 2003. Carey's parenting humor has appeared in various websites and print magazines. He resides in the suburbs of Philadelphia with his wife and three children. (Read More)
George Simmons
George SimmonsGeorge Simmons is a father and husband living with type 1 diabetes. A self proclaimed "born again diabetic," George began blogging as a way to meet other people living with diabetes and learn more about managing his disease. (Read More)
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