Sep 26 2011
Grandpa
Marc, Annada and I went back to Omaha recently to visit our families. Ron, Marc’s dad, just had surgery for cancer and Marc wanted to be there to help when Ron got out of the hospital. Actually, Marc thought he would be there while Ron was in the hospital, but Ron is doing so well he was let out early and hardly looks like he had surgery at all!
Annada and I went over to the Vergos one day to visit Grandpa. Annada decided to put a bandaid on her and grandpa’s head so grandpa would feel better 🙂 (above).
Then a few days later Marc and I drove our new car home (the old one was stolen in May) while my parents watched Annada. Thursday Grandma (Marc’s mom) flew Annada back to Orlando and went to a math conference. I think Annada really bonded with Marcia on the plane because Annada has been asking why Grandma and Grandpa can’t live in Orlando.
Cancer
Marc and I weren’t sure how to broach the whole cancer thing with Annada, so we told her Grandpa was sick but not much more. Leading up to Grandpa’s surgery she often prayed for him before bed but I figured it was no different than when she prays for herself or us when we have colds.
When we were in Omaha one day, out of the blue, Annada said, “Mommy, Grandpa is sick.”
“Yes, Annada,” I replied. “He is getting lots of sleep so his body will heal.” (We had told her our body heals when we sleep.)
“He has cancer,” she said.
Oh… I thought. What do I say? “That is true,” I replied. Annada didn’t say anything more so we went back to playing.
About 10 minutes later, I said, “Okay Annada, let’s go kill the bed.” (Killing the bed is what my family calls taking off the sheets and washing them.
Annada followed me upstairs and started helping me pull off the sheets.
“The bed has cancer,” Annada said resolutely.
It dawned on me she was connecting “killing” the bed with cancer. I stopped and swooped down to pick her up. I realized we both had tears in our eyes. How does she know these things?
I didn’t know what to say, so we just hugged.