Sharing Life, Death, and Love with Chloe
04.14.2016
I recently had my four year-old granddaughter, Chloe, stay the weekend. I kept being reminded by her enthusiasm and delight over simple things of how I, too, felt at that age over those things. We made art projects with glitter...LOTS of glitter. We went to the library and she was enthralled with all the books. They had a dog there being read to by a young boy, and she was SO excited to see that doggie. We ended up taking out a fairly large collection of doggie-themed books. We went to the movie theater to see "Zootopia": more animals, more excitement!
I brought Chloe to work and she was absolutely entranced by the urn I was painting (it happened to have dog and cat faces all over it). She began asking questions about my urns, especially when I showed her the two that contained my dogs' ashes. She was fascinated...the more she asked, the more I felt I needed to share about cremation, heavenly realms, and death. I was afraid she'd be fearful or upset, but she just seemed to absorb the information and want more.
Chloe was particularly accepting of the idea that we will see our pets and be with them after we die. She knows her grandfather died before she was born, and wanted to know if we'd be seeing him, too. That gave me an opportunity to tell her more about him (we always have lots of kids and ruckus when I visit; no real chance to share about him). And that gave me such joy, knowing how much she would have loved him and he, her.
I'm so glad I brought her to work! I'm thankful for my work and the opportunity to share it with her.
Three more grandchildren...three more opportunities. So many blessings; so much love!