Diabetes Memory #78,290: Food Prep FlashBacks

I grew up at the tail end of the Diabetes Dark Ages. Only a few types of insulin were available then, we tested urine instead of blood sugars and there were no such things as CGMs or insulin pumps. My parents had 3 children out of 6 with type 1 and my dad had t1. Things were hectic and crazy and it wasn't calm or easy. 
I’ve written about it before but honestly I don’t know how the hell they survived diabetes sans support - but they did - And I am so grateful.  
It’s funny that food prep can bring back childhood memories of life with  D, but it totally does and did. The following happened Sunday night. 
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Mom & I - A  few months before I was dx'd

Sunday night I was prepping food for the week. And by prepping I mean pre-slicing Granny Smith apples, spritzing the slices with juice from a lemon so they wouldn’t brown in the fridge and would be all ready for my Monday morning green smoothie. 
I washed a bunch of baby spinach and spun it dry in my salad spinner and cut up bananas chunks to freeze for the same breakfast smoothie. 
I pre-peeled organic carrots, sliced them and threw them in a glass jar filled with ice water and placed it in the fridge, so they were good ready whenever I wanted to snack on something crunchy and low carb. 
My prep time was quick and just as I was finishing up the carrots, I had a flashback of my childhood  - to my mom standing at the sink peeling carrots and placing them in a glass jar filled with ice water in the fridge - Something she did daily and long before I was diagnosed. Followed by a memory of her washing grapes and strawberries, drying them completely,  then counting out exactly 12 grapes, wrapping them in saran-wrap for my school snack bag. 
Next she' measuring 1 cup of strawberries, slice them in half and place them in a small Tupperware container and put  it in my lunch box.
Mom tried so hard to make things as normal as possible for me/us when it came to eating. 
As a family, we only dined on small baked potatoes instead of big ones at dinner, there were always lots of raw veggies because I liked raw veggies better than cooked veggies - Still do to this day.  And always sugar free chocolate pudding for dessert. 
FTR: I don’t dig sugar free anything, except for sugar free chocolate pudding.
Yep, my mom did her absolute best and I wasn’t always grateful - I fought the grapes and refused to eat them  a lot of times because “who the hell only eats 12 grapes?” 
I preferred strawberries and apples because I felt like I was getting more bang for my diabetes buck - they weren’t free foods, but they sure felt like it sometimes.
Looking back, she let me go to sleepovers because she knew it was important to be with my friends. I’m sure there were phone calls made between the sleepover parents and mine and I have no doubt that my sugars were on the high side the next day, but I don’t remember. I just remember the sleeping over, staying up and having fun, parts. 
I took tap dancing on Saturday mornings and did gymnastics 3 days a week. 
I always carried my snack with me and mom waited with the rest of the moms in the waiting room until the end of class, when we performed for our parents. 
I always ate a big snack class before class and if I needed to eat during, I ate. 
My parents made sure my teachers knew and nobody ever made a big deal of it - except for my 5th grade teacher - but that’s for another post. 

And as I stood at the sink thinking about all those things my eyes started to get all leaky. 

I was a lucky duck to have her as my mom and I know it!
And I miss her so much.