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Today is the sixteenth anniversary of my diabetes diagnosis. And I'm not sure that I know what I feel, or if I'm feeling anything at all. Should I celebrate? Should I reflect? Should I move on and never recognize the day at all?

I definitely believe that it's a day worth recognizing. Sixteen years with this disease is a lifetime, a major feat, a true achievement. But I guess I just don't know how to feel on the actual anniversary.

For me, diabetes is a daily walk. It's a constant celebration. I'm always cursing it. Not a second of my life goes by without considering the consequences of diabetes, both in the present and in the future.

So the anniversary seems like it's more just a checkmark on the list. It's a day to understand the gravity of diabetes. It's a day to rejoice that I've made it sixteen years without major complications. It's a day to share the reality of diabetes with the world.

But it's still like every other day with diabetes. I still woke up and checked my blood sugar. I still battled highs. I still felt the intensity of a low. I took my insulin. I ate. Tonight, I'll log my blood sugars. It's just another day with this disease.

However, it's not just another day. It's roughly the 5840th day in my life with diabetes. Out of approximately 7300 days in my life, about 5840 of them have involved diabetes. That's only 1460 days without diabetes.

Diabetes will always be the majority of my life. I will never remember what it was like to not have this disease. It will always be a struggle in my life. And it will always be a celebration...a celebration of good results, of working kidneys, or diabetes-free children. Even if in the next sixteen years I develop complications, at least I made it this long without the horrid effects of kidney disease, neuropathy, or retinopathy.

So here's to diabetes getting its driver's license!