The other day, Em, Myron, and I were driving to look for a new bike frame for me and have dinner at a restaurant afterwards. Earlier that day, I visited a friend and learned that her cat had cancer and wasn’t eating – probably a response to the chemotherapy. I mentioned this to Em, and then from the back seat, Myron said,

Papa, I don’t know when you’re going to die.

We reassured him it probably wouldn’t be for a very long time. Then,

I don’t want to die. I want to keep playing and eating forever.

We said he would probably be very old and referenced some of the oldest people Myron knows – that old.

When everyone in the world dies, the world will stop living.

“People die, but also new people are born all the time, like Xavier and Mila.”

People can control the world. I want to control the world.

“Well, we can control some things, but we can’t control everything about the world.”

At some point, we said something about how he can stay healthy by eating nutritious food, getting exercise and sleep, and spending time with friends. Myron was unsatisfied with all of our responses.

At bath time later that day, he was playing with a shark, and I was playing with a turtle. Myron built a turtle house out of green blocks and a shark house out of blue blocks. The shark was sad because he didn’t want to die, and the turtle said, “Yeah, it’s sad thinking about that… What would be helpful?”

I just want to be sad for a little bit.