DW’s grandmother in Toronto, the kids’ great-grandmother, passed away on Monday morning. It was sudden, just one of those things. She was 94. The kids had been to the nursing home on Friday for their weekly visit. She suffered from Alzheimer’s, so she had a picture of them to help her remember. She always enjoyed their visits, kids have a way of doing that.
The kids went with Grandma and Grandpa to the hospital, and actually got to see her body. It sounds a bit morbid, but I think that’s more of our own baggage around death as adults, rather than the reality. I was able to talk through with them the events of the day when I picked them up after work.
I asked J if she had seen Tai-Poh. “Tai-Poh died today. She’s in heaven now. Did you go to the hospital?” I asked.
“Mmm hmm. Yes Daddy, but she really was just lying there. She didn’t really go anywhere.”
“Well, her body is still here, but her spirit is in heaven.”
You could see her thinking it over.
After she finished, J asked me, “Does it hurt to die?”
“Well, sometimes it does. It depends how you die, I guess.”
“Yeah, like sometimes if you’re in a battle, and you’re fighting, and somebody does something to you…”
“Sure, uh, ok, that might hurt.”
“But when God says it’s time to go, it doesn’t hurt. Right?”
“I think you might be right, J.”
Blogged with Flock
Tags: memory, death, hope, greatgrandmother, heaven
