By: Brandi Z. Cotton
Several times a day, our son Dane asks if we can talk about various topics such as honesty, manners, politeness, stealing, lying, cheating, being responsible, being considerate, etc. We usually role-play scenarios to help him understand each one better.
For the past few weeks he has been especially excited to talk about Heavenly Father and Jesus. I've enjoyed helping Dane to understand the love that each has for us as we role-play. Then today, out of nowhere, Dane says:
"Mom, can we talk about Aunt Ginger?"
We had talked about her before but I think much of what I said had gone over his head. I explained to him again that she is my sister and that almost six years ago she died. He was shocked. I could tell he was really understanding what I was saying. I felt my emotions stirring so I quickly explained that even though we can't see her, Ginger is near us. The end. Now go play before I start to cry.
Five minutes later..... "Mom, can we talk about Aunt Ginger again?"
Heart melted. "Ok, Bud. Do you want to see some pictures of her?" I pulled up my blog, showed him my posts about her, told him about her and how she was a mommy just like me. I just sobbed then bawled as he asked to see more pictures, asked questions, and cuddled extra close to me.
Finally, I realized that this was the perfect opportunity to explain the true meaning of Easter to him. All of the things I had been telling him about how Jesus was perfect and how he was the only one that could atone for our sins and die for us so that we could live again made perfect sense to Dane. I told Dane that even though I miss my sister, I know that her spirit is alive and that one day she will be resurrected just like our Savior was.
And even though I was in my pajamas and my face was a swollen teary mess, it was as if Dane could feel the purity and the truthfulness of what I was saying. He didn't know how to put it into terms other than to sweetly say, "Mom, you're beautiful."