Which Way to Heaven?

This past weekend we said goodbye to my Grandma Agnes. And while it was sad to say goodbye, she had lived a wonderful, long and healthy life of 99 years. We had just been back home to visit 2 weeks ago and had the chance to stop by to say hello to her so she could have a chance to meet Ryan for the first time. I'm so glad I have this photo of she and I and my 3 boys. I'll cherish it forever as she was one very special lady.

Death and heaven are pretty tough subjects to fully understand even as an adult, but for a 3 and 5 year old it must be even harder to understand so of course there were lots of questions, which actually kept me smiling, which I needed. First the boys were asking why she died. Now they actually get the general concept of something dying. They've had a fish that has died, they've seen dead animals in the street, but a person, that was new. We ended up explaining that Grandma Agnes' batteries wore out (they obviously get what that means), but of course couldn't understand why we couldn't just pull out of the box of batteries and replace them like we do here at home. Then when we explained on Saturday night (after a 6 hour car ride home) that the next day we'd be going to see Grandma Agnes who is now in heaven, Matt asked "Do we have to drive there too?". As my dad pointed out, if Matt has directions to heaven, we should all jump in the car with him. Then of course came the visitation. As we approached the casket Matt started waving to Grandma, but couldn't understand why she wasn't waving back. And then he brought another smile to my face when he said, "Are we in Heaven now?".

I'm not really sure how much the boys understood about it all or even how much they'll remember, probably more than I expect knowing them. For that matter, I'm not sure how much they'll even remember her. But I do know that now they have an Angel looking out for them. Goodbye Grandma, we'll miss you and we love you!