"Yeah, I'll do it," Maeve said, quickly unzipping the black diabetes bag and removing the contents onto her lap.

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

She was a little too eager to get her hands on a sharp foreign object and take blood from her little brother. Maeve cracked open an alcohol wipe and rubbed Charlie's fingertip then loaded the meter with a test strip, deftly juggling the instruments. She had never done it before, but she's witnessed it , (one sec whilst I do a little math) , about 17,500 times. It's an unusual thing for an 8-year-old to do. Not your normal car trip activity such as I Spy or the license plate game.

"Just put the striped part into the ..."

"Uh huh. I know."

Sitting in slow-moving traffic on the Belt Parkway in New York, Maeve appeared to be my only option. I didn't want to ask her, but there was no safe place to pull over. Charlie had fallen asleep and the swirling voices were beginning to worry me.

We were returning from yet another funeral. Susanne's godmother, known as Bina to the kids, left us, one month after her sister did. Two cute little old ladies with so much sparkle in their eyes lived for 99 and 96 years, and just like that, now they're both gone.

Susanne and I drove separately as she went to the wake a day earlier with her brother.

I kept one eyeball on the braking taillights and the other in the rear-view mirror, coaching Maeve as she gingerly put the pricker against her brother's middle finger. She tried several times but was unsuccessful, just barely breaking the surface of Charlie's skin and squeezing out a tiny drop of blood.

"I can't get the blood out," she said, dejected, dropping the meter and pricker down like a crushed surgeon unable to save her patient.

"It's OK, honey, thanks for trying. It's not easy." I marveled in the fact that she was fine with the blood.

When Charlie awoke from his nap, I was relieved. Coherence is a good sign, I thought.

"Hey Charlie, while you were sleeping, Maeve tried to test you."

He rubbed the fog from his eyes.

"Are you OK with that?"

"No," he said.



I'm curious. Did your siblings test you? If so, at what age? How about parents? Have your other kids tested your child with diabetes?

I just want to get a feel for the appropriate age. I'm thinking with a little training, we can work Maeve - my rookie reliever - into the 2 am testing rotation by Christmas. Maybe get the 2-year-old in there by April.