Eldest Son, however, has started to notice a lot of death
recently. As he plays a lot with the
lady (I’ll call her Mrs. K)’s next door neighbor kids, he’s met Mrs. K and knew
her a little bit. So I was cautious in
approaching the whole thing, and we sat down to talk.
The kids he plays with are very religious. Not in a particular faith I’d follow
either. However, it’s been a very
interesting open door for us to hold such conversations with him. He insists on saying grace at dinner, and
prays for us when we’re ill. I’ve found
that while I don’t agree with all they teach him, there is quite a bit that is
very basic, and that he’s been asking for since he was an itty bitty. Today, while talking to him about Mrs. K’s
passing, his little belief system came to surface again in such sweet ways.
See, when his little friend at school passed, he was unable,
until Relay, to do much to make his heart feel better about it. As soon as I got the call that Mrs. K had
left us, I knew what to do. I explained
that the neighbor we’d seen the ambulance take away (a week ago to the day) had
passed on… that she had been very sick, and very lonely, and that I know it
sounded strange, but that it was likely for the best for her. He was quiet, so I told him that we could go get some flowers and put them at her doorstep
so when her family comes by to tend to the house, they can see that someone
cared. That got a smile. Then he piped up with, “Besides, now she can
say hi to God! And she’s probably
meeting some very interesting people, like George Washington and Elvis!”
We talked a little about how people die all the time, and
that it’s part of life. We touched on
the fact that Daddy and I plan on sticking around for a long time, but that
things do happen, and we would rather he not mope around too long, but to get
out and live his life, and celebrate ours.
He smiled again, real big, and said, “Mom, I don’t want it to be any
time soon, but if for some reason you do die, please make sure you say hi to
Grandma for me. Tell her I miss her and
I love her.”
Its weird how grown up that little crazy wild child is. He’s always been an old soul, and sometimes
it catches me off guard. But what a
heart that kid has.
