Since he is six months old he cannot "know" that we experience his gaze as sweet, intense & even wise. He cannot "know" that the little girl is his big sister, that the woman taking the picture is his mother & that his mother has cancer (She is open about this & we seek prayers.)
Yet in some impossible way, this youngest grandson of mine seems to "know" that his mother is sick. Friends comment, "He is so calm & cheerful." His older brother Miles says, "he only fusses when his diaper is wet!"
When I mention that baby Reed is trying to care for his mom people smile. So does his mom, who feels better every time she looks at him, holds him, loves him.
Reed senses what we think he cannot understand. Yet, whether or not he really "knows" one thing is clear: This tiny angel is one of his mother's best caregivers.
-Erie Chapman
Photo by Jennifer Chapman
Journal of Sacred Work 
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