A story about a letter left by my daughter on the windowsill and a Christmas miracle.

#nana56b


Lines from the story


My husband has cancer and was given six
months to live.

Now, with permission from the hospital to
go out,
we continue living our days as a family of
three.

One day in December,
my six-year-old daughter had been writing
down what she wanted in a letter and leaving
it by the window for several days before
Christmas.

Wondering what she might want, my husband
and I carefully peeked at the letter, trying
not to tear the cute stationery.
Inside, it read:

'Dear Santa,
Please give me medicine to cure Daddy's
cancer! Please!'

My husband and I exchanged a wry smile, but
I gradually grew sad, and tears began to fall.

Even so, it was a moment when I felt like I
might believe in some kind of miracle.

I too felt like making a wish to Santa.

Last night, after our daughter fell asleep...

My husband placed a bag of ordinary powdered
medicine labeled ‘Medicine to Cure Cancer’
on the table.

When our daughter woke up in the morning, she
let out a delighted “Yay!” and ran clumsily
over to where her father was eating breakfast.

“Hey! Santa gave me medicine to cure Daddy's
cancer! Try it now!”

She said, and made her father take the medicine.

My husband flashed a slightly dazed smile and
said,
“Oh! I feel like my body's gradually getting
better.”
Then our daughter said happily, "Oh! That's
great~! Now we can go hiking in the mountains
with Daddy again,
and go to the zoo~!"
The moment he heard those words, I could see my
husband's face contorting.
He couldn't hold back the sadness welling up as
tears.

He covered his mouth and sobbed quietly.


I felt myself about to cry too, but managed to
hold it back.
I scooped up some miso soup from the pot,
forced it down, and composed myself.

My husband explained to our daughter, “The
medicine is making me tear up.”

After seeing our daughter off to play at a
neighbor's house,
my husband turned to me and said quietly.

“Next year, you'll be Santa... Count on you
to handle it.”

With our daughter present, the tears I'd been
holding back until just now suddenly broke
free, and I cried out loud.

Tears fell into the bowl of miso soup, one
after another.