The other night- out of the blue - Ethan asked me if his daddy was dead. What do you say to a 5 year old who has seen his father 3 times in the past 3 years?
"No honey - Daddy's not dead. He lives in Florida where his doctors can take good care of him. He's not able to be an everyday-daddy but he'll always be your daddy."
Is that good enough?
"Will Daddy go to Heaven when he dies?" - What kind of question is this for a 5 year old?
"Yes honey - Daddy will be there and so will everyone else that loves you."
"I wonder what it's like in Heaven?"
"Well - in Heaven nobody gets sad or sick, everyone is happy and gets to be with people they love."
Is that the right thing to say?
"We're alive in Heaven right? We're not dead. We have our bodies and we get to play and have fun right Mommy?"
"Yes honey, we're alive and we get to see all the people we love."
"Mommy, I don't want to go to Heaven alone. Will you carry me?"
Choking through the tears I replied "yes honey, I will carry you to Heaven."
So sisters this is where you have to step in - if I'm gone before you - promise him you'll carry him to Heaven!
I can't imagine a day without Ethan. He is absolutely the most wonderful child in the world (except compared to his cousins of course) and I would do anything to make sure he is safe and happy. He is my world and for good or bad I have made him who he is - all the sentiment and emotion he has is from me, all the smarts I give to our father, all the quirkiness is of course also from me - but he is precious. And he has only me. So please - remember him in your prayers and count him as part of your family.
He's too sweet! I think your answers are perfect. We'll always take care of him. You know that! Has Mom been reading your blog? Remind her!
ReplyDeleteThat's really sweet. Our guinea pig died last night, so we had a little heaven talk too. "Rocky Road is with Jesus now, right?" "And we'll be with him again when we die, right?" "You'll die before us, Mommy, since you're older."
ReplyDelete