You too?

There are times in life when one must talk to someone that he barely knows, or perhaps has met for the first time. Maybe he is in a long line at the supermarket, or watching his toddler play at a park, or eating lunch during a seminar required by his employer.

During those times, one makes small talk.

One chats about the little niceties: where he is from, how he got into the business, how old his kids are.

And sometimes one discovers that the person with whom one is speaking shares something in common.

"Hey, my family is from Connersville too!"

Or "No kidding, I also studied in Seville in 1988!"

Or, "Oh my goodness, my in-laws live in the house where you grew up!"

Or, "You must have gone to high school with my cousin!"

In these situations, where small talk is paramount, diabetes rarely comes up.

But sometimes it comes up ... later.

I am pretty involved in my church, and due to my involvement with said church, I know a great number of wonderful, kind, generous people. People who would give you their right arm if you asked for it.

This week, one of those people walked up to me after mass. It had just been announced that a new person (not me, this time) would be chairing the Christmas fair this year. I figured that this woman, with whom I had volunteered many times, wanted to ask me about my decision, or make the observation that my life should be "a lot more relaxing now".

The assumption stemmed from the fact that several people had already approached me about it BEFORE mass.

But this woman caught me off-guard by asking me a totally unrelated question: "Does M have diabetes?"

When I responded yes, she told me that she had Type 1 diabetes herself.

Now this puts us in the weird position of having the "Wow! Me too!" conversation often overheard in airport lounges. Weird, because we are "happy" to know another person with diabetes. Weird, because, in reality, we don't want anyone in the world to have diabetes.

But there is a sense of relief in knowing that one is not alone, isn't there?

I have known this woman for about 10 years, and never once did diabetes come up. But recently, the woman's daughter had gone to "Jesus camp" with M, and noticed her insulin pump, thus prompting my friend's query.

With giddy chatter, we shared our experiences.

We discussed the diagnosis whens and hows: M's ( age 11, sick for 3 weeks) and hers (age 8, sick for 2 weeks).  The evolution of D technology ("Wow, it's been really amazing"). Pump or injection (Pump). Support systems ("Not really, I don't know anyone else with diabetes"). Family history of Type 1 (none for both).

I asked her about her two pregnancies ("That was really hard").

I thanked her for telling me, and told her I was glad to know that she had Type 1. After all, she looked pretty normal to me, which gives me hope for M. It's nice to know that she has a shot at being a 40-something mom with two teenaged daughters, too.

I left church feeling blessed, which I guess is the purpose of church, really.

But I have a plan for the next time I go to church. I plan to pray that soon there will never be a need for someone to feel happy that someone else has diabetes, just so they will know they are not alone.

Heck, I'll pray for it now.

Amen.

For everyone.