Death

My Grandma Pickard has been failing in health for the past year.... last summer she wasn't doing well and they thought she would pass away before the summer was over. She's held on this long-- and really was doing pretty well over the last few months, however the end of February she went to the hospital and spent at least a week there-- and was then released to the nursing home. She's retaining fluids, has heart failure, kidney failure, etc.... her body is shutting down. She's on a lot of pain meds and they have stopped with her other medications, so it's seems to be a waiting game right now.

I've been trying to find the right words to talk to Addison about Grandma dying. I didn't want to tell her that she's "sick" or "old" because little kids can sometimes get the wrong idea and associate these words with anyone who we say is "sick" or "old".... My mom and sister suggested I just tell Addison that Grandma is getting ready to go to Heaven and live with Jesus there. Tonight while driving home from church (in the dark), I decided it was time to talk to her about it-- so I just said "Addison did you know that Grandma Pickard is getting ready to go to Heaven and live with Jesus".... she said "Yeah, so she's dying?" I was shocked she put that together so fast. After that her concerns were "who's going to live at her house", "who else is going to die right now" (we just had Matt's uncle die a couple weeks ago).....

It's very interesting to speak with a 4 year old about death-- and to see all the pieces getting put together for them. To have 2 funerals in a matter of weeks (I assume) seems a little confusing too-- but she has asked some of the most amazing questions about death: where do we go when we die, won't we miss the person who dies, how do we get to Heaven, etc....