"Mommy, you'll be dead...."

I have to admit the first time I heard it two years ago, it chilled me to the bone. The concept that I would die was truthful and logical but when it was said outside my head and out of the mouth of my then five year old son, this was horrifying. After the concept was repeated a few times over the years I am still a little queasy about it. I mean come on, when a child says confidently your going to die, you think for the most part "they do not lie about things like that" and "they are originally from God". They just left heaven to come here so they know the future somehow.

So my son says, "When I grow up I am going to da, da da and I am going to do this and that, too bad mommy you will not be alive to see". My back stood straighter, my hair stood up, my neck twist sharply towards him, my eyes lunged out of their sockets and my mouth reflexed and said "What"! Then calmly I said, "Why do you think I will not be alive to see you do all these great things?" "Mom" he gave me that sly look, "If you are already old now, by the time I am a teenager you'll probably be dead." (in a matter of fact, stating the obvious, let's be real and face it, kind of way). Then I thought, is there something you know that I do not know? But before I could ask the question I wanted to ask, my younger son said, "Yeah, you'll be dead". So I continued with "Why do you think that. Could you not see me alive when you are a teenager?" My oldest said, "No". I then felt wise and a cloud of resolution came upon me. "Well let's enjoy every minute together and pray that I am alive and that I will see you both as a teenager and when you're an adult and when you have jobs and a wife (you can hear the screams now, can't you?) And your children." That one created silence and they looked at each other.

They took me seriously and right then and there they started praying, "God please let mommy live to be really old to see us grow up" and the little one says "Yeah and please let mommy live to be a trillion, zillion years old to see my kids, in Jesus Name, Amen." Then I said "Amen". I paused and said, "But what about daddy?" Simultaneously they said, "Oh, daddy will be alive." (That's where I let the conversation lie).