"But why does the ocelot have three legs?" Bud asked me for the umpteenth time as we watched the three-legged mommy ocelot hop around her enclosure at the zoo. I had explained many times that she had been attacked as a kitten but this really didn't seem to help. I'm not sure he wanted the practical facts, anyway; I think his question was more existential, asking the universe "why?" He was also very concerned that she was okay. He talked about it all day. And wants to go back later this week to see her.
Sis, on the other hand, was more concerned with clean water. At church a few weeks ago, she'd received a "Trick-or-Treat" for UNICEF box and we'd been filling it with coins from home. Yesterday, before church school, I made a larger donation to her box and she asked me what the money was for. We'd talked earlier about how UNICEF helps children all over the world, but that was perhaps too abstract. So, reading the box, I told her that 6 cents would buy clean drinking water for a child. She was perplexed. I explained that some children didn't have clean water from the faucet but had to drink muddy water, sometimes with "potty germs." Her wide eyes took it all in. And this morning, before they came into our room, Sis could clearly be heard telling Bud about the importance of UNICEF and clean water.
It's an humbling thing to witness children grow.
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