Thursday, January 31, 2008
Jail and Death
These are the topics, evidently, that preoccupy Max and Boo. In carpool line. On the way to the ranch. While splashing happily in the bathtub. For anyone who hasn't been there, I suppose jail is quite a mystery. In our family, that mystery is augmented, perhaps, by the fact that we pass a penitentiary nearly every week on the way to and from the country.
And death. Well, what bigger mystery is there than that? Is a person who dies really gone? Like all the way gone, or maybe just gone somewhere else? And where exactly might that be, that other dimension? Pretty darn mysterious, like the UFO sightings in Stephenville, but with far greater personal significance. At least I hope so.
I do my best to approach the boys' questions in a matter-of-fact way. Not like a friend's sister who, when her young son asked her, "Mommy, am I going to die?" burst into convulsive tears and sobbed, "You'll have to ask your dad about that!" (A distressing thing it is to contemplate the death of your child.)
Yesterday after we dropped Max off at school, Boo had prison on his mind.
"Mommy, when will Max and I go to jail?"
"Never, honey. Jail is only for people who make really, really bad choices."
"Then what about Timmy? And Will?"
I'm holding out hope that there's still time for Timmy and Will, both 4, to turn their lives around.
And death. Well, what bigger mystery is there than that? Is a person who dies really gone? Like all the way gone, or maybe just gone somewhere else? And where exactly might that be, that other dimension? Pretty darn mysterious, like the UFO sightings in Stephenville, but with far greater personal significance. At least I hope so.
I do my best to approach the boys' questions in a matter-of-fact way. Not like a friend's sister who, when her young son asked her, "Mommy, am I going to die?" burst into convulsive tears and sobbed, "You'll have to ask your dad about that!" (A distressing thing it is to contemplate the death of your child.)
Yesterday after we dropped Max off at school, Boo had prison on his mind.
"Mommy, when will Max and I go to jail?"
"Never, honey. Jail is only for people who make really, really bad choices."
"Then what about Timmy? And Will?"
I'm holding out hope that there's still time for Timmy and Will, both 4, to turn their lives around.
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