At this same time in 2005, Holland and I were getting ready for Children's Congress -- packing, reaching out to new advocates, talking to local media, practicing the "Promise to Remember Me" song for the performance on the lawn of Capitol Hill, and making sure we knew exactly what we would say to our state's lawmakers when we met with them. But truthfully, we had no idea what to expect. We had read every email, every letter that arrived in the mail and we had participated in every web chat. As ready as we were, nothing could have prepared us for Children's Congress and our experience once we arrived.
I am so excited to be an advocate for the Children's Congress. I can't wait to meet all the people, like the senators, and other kids. I guess my expectations would be that people will understand that it gets very tiring to keep up with this disease. Sometimes I feel like it's stronger than I am. I almost feel like I don't have any control sometimes. I really want the Congress to know that.
I'm sitting here thinking about how to frame the expectations of a 5-year-old since that's how old Jack is. As usual, I'm sure he's understanding more about this Children's Congress than I give him credit for understanding but I'm still pretty sure he's not expecting to accomplish much other than meeting other kids with diabetes and having fun (isn't that what a 5-year-old is supposed to do?).
Because we look like normal kids, I expect that our legislators might not understand the importance of funding research at first. But once they hear our stories, I think that we will change the way they feel about diabetes. Each and every one of us has our own story and each story has its own way of making people feel like they should help us.
I have very high expectations for myself being a CC delegate. In the past 1-1/2 years I have been fortunate to meet with our state governor, senators, and representatives to get the word out about what it's like to live with diabetes. This is a mission that I hope to further expand on once in Washington. It will be both an honor and exciting for me to be able to talk to people who can make a difference.
