Wise words

George's Grandma Squire passed away last week. This was a sad time for the whole family, but also a time for us to celebrate Grandma's 92 years of life. Seeing her 10 great-grandchildren running around the funeral home was testament enough to that.

Fortunately, George and Faith were able to visit Grandma in the hospital the Sunday before she died. When it came time to actually tell Faith that Grandma had died, I thought that she would be able to understand it a little better because she knew that Grandma was having trouble breathing and that her heart was sick too. What I underestimated was how truly upset she would be to hear that Great-Grandma had died and was now in heaven.

But, in the way of five year olds, she was soon able to understand that Great-Grandma was in a better place. After sitting through Grandma's funeral on Monday, she told me, "I felt sad but I didn't cry because I knew Great-Grandma was feeling better now." (Strangely enough, she was also fascinated by Grandma's name as I don't think she'd ever actually heard her called by her "real" name before. She was obviously listening to the minister during the service.)

I think the most profound thing she said occurred at the actual cemetery. After the ceremony at the grave, we were waiting in the van for the cars ahead of us to return to the church. Faith asked, "Mom, what are all the flowers for?"

The cemetery was filled with flowers of all kinds on the different headstones...more than I had ever seen in one cemetery before. I explained that people brought them for their grandmas and grampas, aunts, and uncles.

"Then the flowers are for love," she said. Then she paused for a few seconds before saying, "There's lots of love here."

How do five-year-olds get so wise?