Thoughts on Life and Death and Everything In Between

Despite the two previous cheery posts, there is some sadness going on in our lives.  My Step mom, Susan, has been here locally for a number of weeks, taking care of her Mom.  Her Mom, would be my Grandmother, and, as she likes to be called, she is Jocelyn's Great Mom.

Great Mom is 97 years old, and she will tell you that she has lived a full, wonderful life.  Up until recently, she  had lived by herself, taking care of herself and her home.  She was even still driving!  But a few weeks ago, Great Mom had a heart attack, and unfortunately, it has brought on a series of things that will at some point lead us to the day when she will leave us.

Jocelyn is a smart girl.  She knows something's up.

She has asked in the past about death and dying.  Pat's Dad died many years ago, before I came into his life, but Jocelyn has been curious about where he is and what Pat's life is like without his Dad.  How do you explain this to a little child?

Saturday morning, Jocelyn and I had a very difficult but touching conversation about life and death.  She started to ask me where my Mom's (Grammy) parents were, and I had to explain that they died many years ago.  She asked me where Susan's (Memere) Dad is.  I had to explain that he died many years ago.  She asked me about Memere's Mom and I explained that, that is Great Mom.  And Jocelyn started to do the math...

She asked me where my Dad's (Pepere) parents are.  I again had to explain that they also died, many years ago. WOW!  Deep conversation with a 4 year old!

Then Jocelyn, being the big hearted girl she is, ripped my heart right out of my chest and asked me "If Pepere's parents are gone, who takes care of Pepere?"  I gulped some air and explained that She and I, and Auntie and Memere all take care of Pepere.  And as if that wasn't enough, she then went on to ask "How can we take care of Pepere when he is so far away?"   At that point, I couldn't help it, she was crying, I was crying, and I just answered as best I could...  "we do whatever we can".

And after that conversation, we went to visit with Memere and Great Mom, and hugged them both tight.  We're both going to miss Great Mom one day.