Sadly, LBJ's grandmother (i.e. Granny) died a few weeks ago. She was 96 years old and in a nursing home. She wasn't doing terribly well the last time we visited about 2 weeks before her death. Still, it was a sad event.
Explaining death (or, rather, trying to explain death) to a three year-old is challenging and does not exactly help the grieving process. For about a week after the event, ORBJ kept asking "Is Granny dead?" Of course, that would just make us sad.
For a while, it felt like the movie Groundhog Day, except without the humor. My favorite quotation (which I'll paraphrase):
Phil Connors: What would you do if you were stuck in one place, and every day was exactly the same, and nothing that you did mattered?
Guy with dead-end job: That about sums it up for me.
Then, ORBJ kept asking "are we going to die?" So we would keep explaining that, yes, someday that would happen, but not until she was really old. To which, she responded "Dada, you're not really old. Mama isn't either."
Next was the concern that flowers were going to die soon.
Thankfully, the "phase" ended fairly quickly, but it was not a particularly pleasant week.
On the bright side, the funeral and associated arrangements went smoothly. It was nice to see some of LBJ's family whom we had not seen in quite a while. Also, the funeral service had very nice things to say about Granny, who was a very generous and well-liked person. She will be missed.
On a more cheerful note, the next posting(s) will cover our recent trip to the "west of Ireland".
Explaining death (or, rather, trying to explain death) to a three year-old is challenging and does not exactly help the grieving process. For about a week after the event, ORBJ kept asking "Is Granny dead?" Of course, that would just make us sad.
For a while, it felt like the movie Groundhog Day, except without the humor. My favorite quotation (which I'll paraphrase):
Phil Connors: What would you do if you were stuck in one place, and every day was exactly the same, and nothing that you did mattered?
Guy with dead-end job: That about sums it up for me.
Then, ORBJ kept asking "are we going to die?" So we would keep explaining that, yes, someday that would happen, but not until she was really old. To which, she responded "Dada, you're not really old. Mama isn't either."
Next was the concern that flowers were going to die soon.
Thankfully, the "phase" ended fairly quickly, but it was not a particularly pleasant week.
On the bright side, the funeral and associated arrangements went smoothly. It was nice to see some of LBJ's family whom we had not seen in quite a while. Also, the funeral service had very nice things to say about Granny, who was a very generous and well-liked person. She will be missed.
On a more cheerful note, the next posting(s) will cover our recent trip to the "west of Ireland".
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