Day 10: Dear Baby Daisy

Dear Baby Daisy,

Your life's barely even begun.  You have so much ahead of you - so many things that will mould and shape you.

In 3 years time you will be diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.  It won't bother you too much to begin with - mum and dad take care of every aspect of it.  Most of all you'll miss 10p Freddo chocolate bars, but it's okay because a good few years later they won't interest you at all because Cadbury's chocolate gives you tooth ache and they cost a whopping 25p.  That's inflation for you, little one.

Dr. Johnson's going to upset you.  He's a nice bloke but he'll squeeze your little fingers so hard to try and get blood out of them that they'll throb for ages afterwards.  Years later, when he's retired and you can no longer remember what he looks like, you'll picture his face as the Kentucky Fried Chicken man.

When mum and dad split up, remember that it's for the best.  You'll come to realise that, as much as you love them both, you would never want them to get back together.  After being separated for 14 years, you'll have been lucky enough to have spent 4 Christmases together and have been on holiday to Switzerland, just the 3 of you.  You'll be more of a family than you ever might have been had they stayed together.  Most importantly though, you'll have two of the best friends you could have ever wished for.

Ye of little faith, remember that you are capable of so much.  Don't leave your GCSE and A Level exams almost in tears because you think you've messed them up - trust me, you really haven't. 

Appreciate those you love and who love you.  Make the most of the time you have with good friends and wonderful family - some of them won't be around for as long as you will hope.

In the 6 years you spend at primary school, do not waste a single second of them wishing you were older.  When you look back at your class photos and you remember the names of every single one of your peers, you'll wonder where the time went and be baffled at just how much things can change.  Losing Alice will hit you hard, but you'll remember her beauty and how she was always an angel, even here on Earth.  The same goes for when you're older; don't dwell on wishing you could go back because you can't - move forward confidently and keep going.

As for your diabetes; don't neglect it.  You may feel like you're invincible sometimes but you're not.  Don't blind yourself with ignorance, thinking that you're immune to the complications of diabetes and so you can treat it as you like.  You're only human, Daisy.  Remember your hypo treatments, your prescriptions and most of all take your insulin!  When your blood sugars are running so high that you can hardly drag yourself out of bed, or you're in A+E with DKA, you'll kick yourself for being so stupid. 

Last of all, don't run up a £240 phone bill ringing your friends' mobile phones from the landline when you're 14.  Mum will make you pay it back to her in full and rightly so.  You won't be happy when you have no pocket money for months on end.  Not only that but your mother will bring it up in front of people to embarrass you for years to come, so just don't bother.

Walk with your head held high and with a smile on your face.  You have so much to look forward to - believe me, I know...

From 19 Year Old You.