Deep Discussions

Last night we watched The Odd Life of Timothy Green with Gavin. A great movie, PG, I thought nothing of it. If you've never seen it, it's about a couple who are unable to have kids, so they bury a box of ideas of what their child would be like if they had one, to let go of the idea of having a child. After burying the box comes a magical little boy into their life, and who quickly leaves. I don't want to reveal too much; it is a very sweet story that has a happy ending. Gavin had a really hard time with the "leaving" part. He cried and cried, which broke my heart.

This brought on questions about death. Hard questions to answer. When will he die? When will I die? What if Shannon and I both die and he doesn't have any parents? Why don't some kids have parents? What is Heaven like? Why does God make us all die? 

I never imagined a sweet and innocent story would spiral into such a horribly difficult conversation that left him up half the night with bad dreams. He is such a tenderhearted soul, and I really fumbled through the conversations with my own tears. Trying to explain living in the moment because you never know when your time on earth will end is tough for anyone to deal with and he understands so much. I felt the need to be honest, but honesty on this subject is not an easy thing to take. No one really likes the answer.

Footnote: At 18, he still is a sensitive soul that isn't afraid to cry when he feels it.