Blood Relative

N and beloved Mrs. Shepard on Valentine's Day

Over the last few weeks N has been dealing with a left-over a flu that seems to come and go as it pleases and won't quite ride off into the sunset. Stacy was growing concerned so she took him to the pediatrician who recommended some blood work. Drawing his blood did not seem to be too traumatizing for him; on the contrary, it seemed to awaken a whole new realm of scientific inquiry for him. Last night as I was lying next to him in his bed during "cuddle time" I congratulated him on being such a big boy at the lab. From that reference sprang a 20 minute discussion of blood and blood types and all things hematological. We talked about how some people have blood with A-chemicals in it, and some have blood with B-chemicals, and how some people have blood with neither and some with both. We went through all the permutations of who can give what to whom, much to N's unflagging interest. At one point he got somber for a bit and expressed his anxiety at not knowing if he had A-chemicals or B-chemicals, because he wanted to be able to give his blood to Mommy or Daddy right away if the need were to arise. He also postulated that B+ blood must be significantly darker than B- blood.

When I was six, blood was just red and gross.