What then?

As I got into the bathtub a couple of nights ago, Anna hopped up onto my bed to talk while she waited for me to tuck her in. We chatted about a few things and then she got real quiet, I picked up a book and started reading and figured that she was lost in thought about something else. After I had gotten out and ready for bed, I walked into the bedroom to see her sound asleep on my bed. What a peaceful picture....right?

As much as I desperately wanted to leave her be, to carry her gently to her bed and kiss her good night, I couldn't. It had been a couple of hours since her last blood sugar check....we always check just before going to sleep....but because she had fallen asleep outside of our "routine" that step had been missed. So, instead, I ran into the kitchen to grab her meter....saying a little prayer as I went that she had passed out from exhaustion, not low blood sugar....and came back in to test her blood sugar level. She woke up and looked at me with those eyes that only a parent of a diabetic child knows...the initial "what are you doing to me?" followed by a look of resignation. And her number was....perfect.

But, what if it hadn't been? What if she had been crashing? What if this happens when she is 19 and away at college....not 9 and at home? What if she misses a step of the "routine"? What then?

These are the questions that keep we awake at night....