I'm scared that if this child could lose her mother when she is in the 4th grade, my kids could lose their mother. If she could die, I could die. Not that I didn't know this before. But, it has been brought closer to home, given the similarities.

And my daughter has difficulty expressing her emotions about a lot of things. Anger and joy, she's great at. Fear, doubt, uncertainty, sadness -- she just holds it inside. I don't know how to help her learn to let her emotions out, or even to say how she feels. She does not get this characteristic from me, so it is hard for me to figure out. My son is more like me -- "Oh, NO!" he cried when I told him this morning. My daughter just hugged me and then went to breakfast.

I know part of my fear stems from the fact that I know I don't take good enough care of myself. I can help hold back my fear by eating better and exercising more. But I need advice on how to get my daughter to recognize how she feels and to talk about it.