A big adventure for a little boy

Eddie plans a walk

Happy Wednesday etc. I’m in Pōneke! Writing to you from Meow where the show is tonight. I am very excited.

We had a crowd of 200 last night in Wairarapa and it was so much fun. I can’t believe when this is over we will have laughed and cried with thousands of women. It really is a dream come true.

But today I wanted to share a little story.

Eddie has asked us if he can walk home from school. It’s only about a 5-10 minute walk and we walk it a lot. But he desperately wants some independence. He has a plan.

He will walk with two friends. And will carry his diabetes phone and call us if he needs us.

But honestly, I’m so excited for him because HE is so excited. He will be nine in September. He wants to feel independent. I think that is especially so because he has very little independence given his diabetes. He can’t have sleepovers. He can’t have play dates without us being there. We try to do spontaneous stuff but that’s hard when you have insulin and food to factor in. We are still not even at his two year “diaversary” but he has a plan.

And he told us his plan.

He will take his kit and be in charge of “medication”. He will also take two bottles of water.

His friend will be in charge of food. Because they apparently need a lot of snacks for the walk.

But my favourite bit - they want to bring a net and a spade. In case there is an earthquake and they get stuck and have to get food. Two of the three kids are vegetarian but he told me solemnly that he could get an eel “if it was life or death”. And he informed me “you can’t take a knife to school. But we will use a stick if we have to take the skin off the eel”. But that’s a last resort “because we are going to use the spade to dig up vegetables and pick fruit”.

They will take a notepad in case they have to leave a note to say thank you to the person whose fruit they take.

They will bring two sticks to start a fire.

They will bring one sleeping bag each, just in case.

And they will bring a book to share, in case they need entertainment.

I guess they’re all set huh?

The first walk home will be in a month so they have plenty of time to work on survival skills.

How good honestly. There’s going to be three kids with hiking packs on walking home five minutes down the road.

Finally, Ham is in a “helpful” stage and I had a sore throat today. He insisted on making me a salt gargle. I was lucky enough to have a cold gargle with chicken salt 😂

I hope you’re all well. See you for Friday Night Chats. Timaru tomorrow!

em x