Okay, I have had a million "when I was low" moments. I am hypoglycemia unaware and have been for a fair bit of time. When I was a teenager, however, my symptoms and blood sugars changed often and it was hard to stay even. My high school was walking distance from my house and I was in the band. On the way to the school, was a Lawson's convenient store which I used to swing by around lunch and sometimes on my way home to grab a snack. The owner of the Lawson's had told me his wife was diabetic. Though I confess it was a fact I'd nearly forgotten and ignored.
So there it was, the summer of 1987 and I (with many another band-geek) had to go play for the graduation ceremony. I walked out to the school. We were in the sun a long time and, of course, we weren't allowed to bring food or drink with us. I felt okay through the ceremony and I started to walk home.
I remember kinda' coming around outside the Lawson's with two police cars parked there, my parents had (apparently just shown up) and a couple of the Lawson's folks hanging around nearby.
What happened was this: My sugar bottomed out. I was mobile and my brain was apparently in that special place. I walked into the store and just started grabbing stuff off the shelves and eating it. There were wrappers sorta' everywhere... I was my own little diabetic-explosion… The owner called the police before he realized what was happening, then he called my parents (I still don't know how he knew my last name). I guess I was a bit combative at first, and the police seemed a bit unsettled.
I’m not sure it’ll seem that funny to some but the picture of the store owner’s face as some kid walked in with a ½ undone band uniform and started busting through merchandise and eating it mid-store with reckless abandon… well – it’s just a mental image that makes the corners of my mouth climb north.
(I did take the time to tally the wrappers and pay for the merchandise)