on a need to know basis...

shortly after nathan was born, doug posted an entry on his blog describing the type of world that nate was being born into; a world where information was no longer private, but public due to the nature of the internet. this is something that kathy and i have accepted and are not bitter or angry about. we came across another incident of the public nature of our blog this morning.

while sleeping, kathy and i were woken up by the constant ring of the phone. since we were staying at my parents', i happily let the phone go to voice mail. however, this morning the phone kept ringing and ringing. my parents, as they are apt to do, had taken nathan along with them on their morning constitutional. this provides them with exercise, nathan with fresh air, and kathy and i with more sleep. winners all around.

after the 6th or 7th time, i decided to answer the phone in case my parents were trying to reach me. it wasn't my mother. it was my (mo) grandmother. she immediately asked me why we weren't in japan. i said we just didn't go. she then asked about nathan, saying that she had found out about his sickness via a family member who read our blog. [then why did you ask about japan first if you already knew the answer?] she went on to express her concern for her great-grandson and that, in an inability to contact us directly (probably after about ring #4 in hk), she called my brother in toronto for more information and my uncle in hk trying to find out where we were.

the purpose of our blog is for our friends and family to know what's going on in our lives. since nathan's arrival, a lot more has been going on and a lot more people, naturally, are interested as well. even though this illness isn't ideal—and the fact that it occured while travelling makes it less so—it's still part of our lives and we feel comfort in knowing that people are thinking and praying for us. however, there are certain people i would put on a "need-to-know basis" for these unfortunate situations in our lives. great-grandparents fit squarely into this group.

for some reason, despite their years of experience and vast wisdom, the older they get, the more concerned they are about things and the more they worry. because of this, their own children and grandchildren often filter the information they provide them regarding their own lives. wouldn't it also be prudent to do the same for their only great-grandchild? since our grandparents do not know how to use the internet themselves, they get all their information from either ourselves or relatives. by all means share the good with them, but discretion is definitely needed for the bad. why tell them if it will only cause them to worry needlessly?

Here are a few recent pictures of the little patient:

Nate with his bag of medicine

Even better than medicine

P.S. overnight the number of H1N1 confirmed cases in japan jumped from single digits to 96. guess it was a good decision to forego the trip.