Tonight we walked over the VBS to drop Brady off, and on the way home Natalie said she didn't want to go home, so I walked over to the elementary school (B's new school) so we could play, and I got a little more mileage in.
We were the only two there (who else would be there at 6:30 on a Tuesday?) and it was so fun to talk with her and play on the equipment. It's the one on one time when you really find out who your child is.
All the way home Natalie wanted to talk about Pinky, Grandma Honey's dog (she was wearing a t-shirt with grandmas dogs on it). About how Pinky died, why, etc. Then she somehow moved from Pinky the dog to daddy's. She wanted to know if I have a daddy? So then we talk about Grandpa Bill. He's in heaven, he died. Was he old? No, he had sick blood. Did it pour out of his body? No, it stayed inside and made him too sick to live. Oh. You were his baby? Yes. And I'm your baby? Yes. Big smiles, she makes this conversation hard and sweet at the same time.
We headed home and had a nice visit with Julie before we had to go pick up Brady. They had discussed being kind tonight at VBS. I didn't know this yet, and when we got home Brady took my camera and took a picture of the sunset for me. I thought that was a kind gesture, I don't get too many from him so it was very, very nice. He is having so much fun this week he comes out with big smiles on his face, and still dancing and humming along to the music in his head. Makes me consider taking him to church more often. If it brings this much joy to my child's heart, maybe his heart belongs there, even if I don't feel that same joy. This is why I wanted my children to be exposed to religion(s), so that they could find their own path and that I could help nurture that journey. We'll see.
Oh! And this afternoon we spent a couple of hours at Bloedel-Donovan, it was great. We went to meet up with Beka and Maggie, and I ran into Karrie and Michelle in the parking lot (preschool friends that we keep trying to organize playdates with). Then it turns out that Karrie and Maggie know each other (from school). Cool! Then my friend Sam arrives with her entourage and she starts talking to Karrie, they know each other! It was weird to see 3 separate friends know each other, and I've formed friendships with them all somehow. We all commented on how nice it is to live in a community where we all "know" each other. Good 'ol Bham.
4 comments:
man oh man...
Your post brought tears to my eyes. I thought about you yesterday regarding your dad's death. I have no idea how I am going to teach Carson about his grandmother if she can't fight this cancer. I found myself wanting to call you yesterday to see how you dealt with the loss, how do I support my hubby.
I also love you view on religion. I need to get off my butt and start exposing Griffin to it as well. I want him to have a base, but don't want to push, just want him to find his way. You said it very well.
Death is a tough one to explain without scaring a child. I have just told the kids that their dads body just stopped working. I was told by someone after their dads death that if you tell super young kids that they got sick and died, they might think if they get sick they will die too. Tough one!
First of all, BEAUTIFUL photo of you and Natalie!!!! Second, Kudos on having taht very difficult discussion with your daughter. That is an incredibly difficult thing to explain (I had to as well). And third, I support you in sending Brady to VBS to learn about a part of religion that he will not learn in school and you are not able to teach him (I sent Corinna too). The hard part of that one is when it's over and he wants to go to church every week and you have 5 million other things that you need to be doing (not to mention the fact that you might not want to sit there yourself). hahaha :) Corinna never got to go on a regular basis.
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