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"In the midst of the presidential election, when families huddled around their televisions, hoping for their prayers to be answered, people in our lives suffered loss. A friend&amp;#039;s niece died and Bobby&amp;#039;s uncle passed away. Bobby was preparing to fly from Detroit to Texas, where his uncle lived, when the kids started questioning him about why he was leaving. Bobby chose his words carefully. He didn&amp;#039;t want to offer too much information and he didn&amp;#039;t want to lie. &amp;quot;Daddy, where are you going?&amp;quot; Samantha asked before bed. &amp;quot;To talk to some people in Texas.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Why?&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Because I need to meet with them.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Why?&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Because I&amp;#039;d like to talk to them in person, not on the phone\u2014now go to bed.&amp;quot; The other day as we were waiting in traffic, Josh peered out the minivan window. &amp;quot;Look, Mom, there&amp;#039;s a graveyard,&amp;quot; Josh says. &amp;quot;Yes, that&amp;#039;s right.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Is that where the dead people live?&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Well, it&amp;#039;s where bodies are buried after people die.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Why do they bury the bodies? How does the skin come off the bones? What am I supposed to say to this? I&amp;#039;m honestly afraid to open my mouth. I ended up quickly turning up the radio and telling Josh something cool that I learned about spiders. Later that day, Samantha brought up death yet again. &amp;quot;Now that Nanny and Grampy&amp;#039;s dog died, I&amp;#039;m forgetting what he looked like.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Nanny has lots of pictures she can show you.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;But why did he die?&amp;quot; &amp;quot;He was old and sick.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;But you have old-lady lines on your forehead\u2014I don&amp;#039;t want you to die!&amp;quot; &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m not going anywhere.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Good, because I really want a chocolate milk.&amp;quot;\u2014Julie Weingarden Dubin Have you had to talk to your children about death or illness? What are your tips for helping children understand tough topics? Share your thoughts and stories in Comments. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/life/a41418/life-death-5385/>