In the Red

During my kids and grandkids’ post Thanksgiving game night, I brought out a two liter bottle of Cherokee Red soda pop that I purchased earlier. It was a joke because it reminded me of a story about my children visiting their Uncle Kevin and Aunt Beverly Crider Morrison. My wife Cindy and I had an appointment somewhere and Beverly volunteered to take care of them while we were gone. It may have been just our daughter Amanda, but our son Andrew may have been born by then. Cindy and I were grateful for Beverly’s generous offer…that is until we got the kids home and they were so wound up.

We had a difficult time getting them to bed. When we thought we had them settled, eyes would pop open and sleep was the farthest thing from their minds. Finally, they wore themselves and us out. Cindy called Beverly and asked what she had fed them. She had Cherokee Red as a treat for them. Apparently the red food dye was a problem for them and caused hyperactivity.

We tried to avoid red food dye in their diet from then on.

On game night, we all had a good chuckle and some of the kids or grandkids drank some. The remainder was shelved in my refrigerator.

My blood sugars have been hovering around 150 to 170 and I was determined to get it down closer to 100. At 100 or below, I have symptoms and don’t tolerate it well. I was tired and thought I’d take a shower and as my dad used to say, “Get the stink blown off me.” Last evening after a day of light eating, stomach cramps, and diarrhea, I climbed into the shower. The hot water felt wonderful. Nice and toasty warm, I toweled off and suddenly felt weak. I was off balance and dizzy. The pit of my stomach felt like it collapsed on itself. I had those symptoms before and hurried to my office to take my blood sugar. It was 63. Usually I keep some kind of candy upstairs, but not tonight. I hustled down stairs, thinking all the way what could I use to get my sugar back up? I went to the sugar container and tossed some under my tongue as a quick fix. Knowing that I needed more to maintain my sugar level, I grabbed the chocolate milk and there beside it was my old friend, Cherokee Red.

A few swallows of each, a quick rest on the recliner and I was feeling much better. Recheck on my blood sugar was 181. Higher than I really wanted, but it was much better than the dizzy sick feeling.