Six Year Old Wisdom

This past week the world lost a wonderful man. The news was unexpected and heartbreaking for our family and close friends. My grandfather was the incredible man who lived on this Earth to serve others. He was a living example serving your fellow man. He taught all of his children, grandchildren, and even great grandchildren so many life lessons. What an incredible legacy. Upon learning of the sad news so many things ran through my mind. Hold it together for the kids, I did not get to say good bye, how on earth do I tell the kids who love him so much, and oh grandma, man I wish Elliot was here. . . . . the list just kept growing. After gathering my thoughts and praying that I would be led to say the right things I called Madelyn into the living room. I shared with her the news and we talked about the plan of salvation and what a blessing it is to know that we will get to see Grandpa again. The talk was short and up there in the hardest things I have ever had to do. On our trip home to be with family and for the services to honor my grandpa I took a moment to talk to Madelyn to prepare her for the next few days. We talked about some of the fun things we did with grandpa and we talked about how she would get to see lots of family at grandma's house. I wanted her to know that there would be some tears and lots of talk about all of memories with grandpa. I really felt strongly she needed to know that is okay to feel sad and to miss grandpa. I hear this little voice pipe up from the back seat and say, "Well I am NOT sad! I am happy!" My initial thought was oh dear. She does not understand. I need to start over. Where do I begin? A question. That is always a good start. "I am glad you are happy. That is a good thing. What makes you happy?" She answered with certainty in her voice, "I am happy because grandpa is living with Heavenly Father. He got to go before any of us. Besides I have heard Heaven is real nice." My initial assessment of her not understanding was wrong. She understood. She understood better than any of us. I am now convinced that having children is part of Heavenly Father's great plan so that the children can teach the adults.