Mar. 13, 2006 - Old Age
Last night I overheard a conversation between my boys. It went like this:Joel (who is about 3 weeks shy of 6 years old): I know all about old people, Nathan. I can even make a list of the top ten old people of the world.
Nathan (who is 4 years old): Yeah ...like Mama Pat.
Joel: Oh, yes. Mama Pat would certainly be on that list. She was very old. You know how I know she was so old?
Nathan: How?
Joel: She was born in 1906 ...thats way before they even had color in this world!
Nathan: I didnt know that color was invented after Mama Pat was born!
Mama Pat was my great-grandmother, and there for great-great-grandmother to my children. She past away the first week of January, having just celebrated her 99th birthday the week of Christmas.
Her death was a very tender thing for our family to experience. Death is never easy for it always brings about pain when you have to let someone go. However, Mama Pat's death was not tragic nor extremely sorrowful. We had the reassurance of knowing Mama Pat was a Christian and therefore had gone on to be with her Savior in heaven. We also knew that living on earth was no longer a pleasure for her as she was mostly bedridden and unable to participate in the things in which she had once taken so much joy. And so it was with gentle tears of happiness that we were able to bury our beloved family member.
My children don't have much experience with death, for which I am extremely grateful. The death of their great-great-grandmother has been a topic of interest for them over the past 2 months. They had only seen Mama Pat a handful of times, but we had made cards for her on special occasions and kept her picture on our fridge. They loved her because I loved her, and because she was a very real part of our extended family.
For the past few weeks, the boys have asked questions about growing old and dying. Mama Pat's death has provided me with an opportunity to talk with my boys about what happens as a person grows elderly and what happens to our bodies and souls after we die. These kind of conversations aren't easy for parents, but I'm grateful for being able to share with my boys on these hard issues in such a gentle way.
Of course, after overhearing last night's conversation, I think I need to do a little discussing about what life was like during the long ago past ...and maybe take a few black and white photos of them around the house so that they can relate to the lack of color in the old black and white pictures of relatives that I have displayed in our home.
