I open a brand new container of test strips and grab the first one (always tricky...am I right?) my big ole fingers get a hold of and shove it directly into my meter’s slot. Error 3. Wtf is an error 3? Pull test strip out and reinsert (maybe I just put it in at a weird angle?). Error 4. OKAY. For some reason, I just don’t believe my meter after this. It’s like when a kid tells you his arm is broken and when you ask which one hurts for the second time, he tells you it’s the other arm.* Yeah, I call your bluff, lazy meter. Reinsert test strip. Error 3. Okay, maybe you have a legitimate error 3. I’ll go with it for now. By this point, I’m fighting with my meter...like out-loud style. Did I mention I’m in a parking lot with someone standing next to my car? Anyway, I can’t decide if it’s the meter or the strip. I have a lot more strips than meters at this point (try 250:1) so I decide to give up on the strip. Put strip back. I grab another strip and aha! It works. After testing, I think about it for a second and realize I have no idea which way the strips lay in the container. Sample spot up or down? So I go to take a look and realize, hey, I put the first one back in the container the wrong way! It made me think of when smokers flip a cigarette in their carton to be their “lucky” and smoke that one last. I thought it to be ironical that my “lucky” test strip was the one that didn’t work. And, I think I’m starting a new tradition. Lucky test strip. Got any traditions of your own?

*Also similar to when your meter tells you your blood sugar is 60, then 110, then 64 again.