Diabetes Memory #76,511: The One With My Dad, Vet Stadium & The Greg Luzinski Batting Glove

I'm late to post on Day 3 of Diabetes Blog Week , but I'm posting none the less. Day 3 is all about diabetes memories. Mine is about baseball and my dad and I will never forget that day. 

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Yep, that's the glove - I still have it, and it still fits. And I still remember what we endured to get that glove.
Also, I have freakishly small hands. 

It was Greg Luzinski Batting Glove Day at Vet Stadium and I was excited.  It was a lunchtime game and I was in 3rd grade and It was just me and my dad, one on one, no one else. 
We were waiting in line to get inside the vet, surrender our Philadelphia Phillies tickets so I could get my official Greg Luzinski batting glove & we could go watch the game. 
Luzinski was  left handed just like me - And that made the day even more exiting. 
Mike Schmidt was actually my favorite Phillie, but Tug McGraw and Greg "The Bull" Luzinski were my next faves so it was really a win-win situation.

We were carrying My “UP AND DOWN, THIS WAY AND THAT WAY,” red book bag. The book bag  literally had the phrase UP AND DOWN / THIS WAY AND THAT WAY written on it in white letters) and I’d carried my school books in it for most of second grade. Inside that bag contained two freezer packs (my mom called them freezettes) wrapped in tinfoil - because apparently tinfoil helped keep the freezerpacks cold, at least way back when, two turkey sandwiches, two sliced oranges and two diet sodas.

Food at the Vet wasn’t diabetes friendly - And we knew that going in, so we brought our own. 
Plus, back in the diabetes days known as the Dark Ages, the D diet was incredibly restrictive and inflexible - and I was still in the "honeymoon phase," of life with D and my pancreas would occasionally sputter out some insulin every now and then.  So yeah,  it was just easier for us to bring our own food - And cheaper. 

We handed the security guard our tickets and he handed my dad back the stubs and then handed me my official Greg Luzinski batting glove. I WAS STOKED - And for a brief second I couldn’t stop smiling. 

And then the security guard told my father that he couldn’t bring  my “UP AND DOWN, THIS WAY AND THAT,” book-bag filled with food into the stadium. 

My dad explained that this my first Phillies game and that I had diabetes and so did he, and that we had to eat special food. But the security guard refused to listen (and I think he told my dad I was too young to have diabetes) and then he told us we were banned from entering the stadium with our food -  And then he snatched my official Greg Luzinski batting glove from my hands and called my father a liar. 

I burst into tears and my dad in the security guy kept screaming at one another - And the next thing I know,  my 58 year old dad and the security guy were rolling down on the ground  and fighting - And I stood there like a crying deer in the headlights. 

I started crying even louder and people stopped what they were doing and watched. And I remember being so scared and afraid and feeling so helpless. 

And I remember hearing some lady saying: Poor kid - imagine having your father fight in front of you - TERRIBLE. 

And that's when I really lost it and got right up in her face and started screaming: I HAVE DIABETES AND MY DAD HAS DIABETES AND WE AREN’T ALLOWED TO EAT THE FOOD HERE!!!!! IT’S NOT MY DAD’S FAULT, LEAVE HIM ALONE, LEAVE MY DAD ALONE, WE HAVE DIABETES!!!!!! LEAVE HIM ALONE!! 

Finally, the head of security showed up and stopped the fight and my dad explained that I had just been diagnosed with diabetes and that I wasn’t allowed to eat stadium food - And neither was he. 

And then someone gave me back my official Greg Luzinski batting glove and we were allowed to take our seats. 

But I don’t remember much of the game - I think the Phillies won 11- 4, but I could be wrong. 

I do remember holding on to my dad’s hand really tight and I remember him doing the same - And he wasn't big on hand holding for extended periods of time, but he was that day.. 

And I still have my Greg Luzinski batting glove all these years later - And it still fits. 

And I still think about that day and my dad, every time I see it.