This Side of Normal
I was diagnosed with type one diabetes at age twelve. I remember every detail: my mother’s face, the solemnity of the hospital, the absolute confusion. Those images will never leave me and have worked their way into This Side of Normal. This book is not my story. It is Ed’s. The details of such, however, were hard-won. Life with type one diabetes is not easy. Every day is different from the last. That is the essence of a chronic illness. Life becomes a paradox: success one day, and then failure the next, without having altered the treatment. It is a humbling experience. I believe I have captured what it is like to be an adolescent today, searching for identity while struggling not to be overpowered by one’s own body. It is a unique dynamic, but one that reflects a more universal dilemma: accepting one’s vulnerability and entrusting others with our weaknesses. Adults and adolescents—with or without diabetes—can relate. We have all been Ed at one time or another.