Lifetime recently showed a re-make of the old movie, "Steel Magnolias". There are parts of the new one I liked better than the old one, and there are parts of the old one I like better than the new one. It's a great story, but I have to be in a certain frame of mind before I can sit down and watch it. I have to be in the mood for a "good cry" (yes, men, there is such a thing as a "good" cry). Most men can not wrap their minds around that concept! There are two particular scenes in the movie that get to me. The scene in the beauty parlor when Shelby is getting her hair fixed for her wedding always grabs me. I understand how those "lows" can just hit you out of the blue. They don't care if you're rolling around in a mud puddle or getting your hair and make-up done for your wedding. They don't care what you're doing when they hit. I don't recall shaking quite as violently as Shelby did, but I've experienced some pretty bad lows.
Who can forget the exchange between M'Lynn and her daughter, Shelby, in the beauty parlor? How frustrating is it to be in the midst of a low and still have the desire to be mature and responsible and not treated like a small child by your mother? That's what lows do though - they make you feel so very vulnerable and weak. Suddenly, you are at every one's mercy and no longer in control. Your mind feels fuzzy and you go from a reasonable, intelligent member of society to a blubbering idiot in a matter of seconds!
The first time I watched "Steel Magnolias" it totally blindsided me. I did not know it dealt with diabetes at all. The second scene that blows me away is the part when Shelby and her mom talk about her pregnancy, and Shelby says to her mom,
"Mama, I'd rather have thirty minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothin' special."
Then at the party, M'Lynn explains to her friends that Shelby's pregnancy is not good news - that the doctor did not say that Shelby could not get pregnant, but that she should not get pregnant.
I know - boy do I know! There's a difference between someone not being able to have a child and it not being wise to even try to have a child. Most people don't even think about the fact that fragile diabetics are not strong enough physically for childbirth. A fragile diabetic's kidneys are compromised so much to begin with, it's like asking for trouble to even go there. Not only is gestational diabetes a certainty, but complications will most assuredly be evident afterward.
So when Jack, Jr. came into the world, his mama's problems were just starting. Then came the dialysis and eventually the transplant. Unfortunately, when kidneys are damaged too badly, end stage renal disease is inevitable. It's been very difficult for me to be childless, but this movie does serve to remind me of what the alternative could have been.
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