My youngest grandson is Graham. He is three years old and his favourite thing in life is to hunt for snails. He has figured out that the best time to look for snails is after a rain so last week after a rain when I was in the flower beds pulling weeds, Graham came out to look for snails.
Because my grandsons are around the Funeral Home, death is not a stranger to them. Another one of Graham’s favourite things to do is to cook me something to eat from the kitchen that is a part of the children’s room which is across from the visitation room, so he can see when we have a funeral. Because of that, Graham and I may have conversations that others may not; and so it was in the garden that day.
“Papa, would you be sad if I died?”
“Yes Graham, I would. I would be so sad if you died that I would cry”.
Then came a silence, so I said “but you know what, Graham? I think that if you die before me, you will go to Heaven and then when I die, I will come to Heaven and we will be together forever. But if I die first then I will go to Heaven and wait for you”.
There was a slight pause and then Graham said “What will we do there?”
“I think that we can look for snails all day long in Heaven” I said.
There was another silence while he tried to process what I was saying and then Graham said “but you can’t move”. And that took me by surprise but that’s what he has observed so it made sense. Keep in mind that kids don’t want a complicated explanation but just a simple answer. So right or wrong I said “that’s right, Graham. When you die, your body stops moving here. But when you get to Heaven you can move again”.
And what did Graham get out of that conversation? A couple days later when I seen my daughter I thought that I had better tell her about Graham’s and my conversation. When I started to tell her, she said “I know. Graham came in and said “guess what Mama…when Papa and I go to Heaven, we’re going to hunt for snails!”
