We Had To Tell The Kids

Today we had to tell the kids about their great-grandma's stomach cancer. We are having a family fast for her health, and we are all praying for the success of her surgery on Friday. I'd told the kids Nana was sick, but didn't tell them how sick or what she was sick with. Tiny Princess had written her a lovely get-well letter that cheered her up considerably.

But this morning when I tried to tell them about the fast, they asked exactly how Nana was sick and wouldn't accept vague, noncommittal answers. And evidently Tiny Princess had heard more than we thought she had-- she mentioned the phrase "the size of a walnut" which had been used by the family to describe the tumor. Princess had many, many more questions too-- whether kids could get cancer, whether it was contagious, what happens when you have cancer, whether cancer is caused by germs... she's my little scientist! Sonshine just sat there and listened, as is his habit when learning something new.