A Death in the Family

A few years ago, my Father-in-Law passed away.  Princess was four.

Death is not an easy thing to explain to a young child.

But it was the reaction and words from my daughter that will always be with me.
Here goes...

The Warden's Dad passed away on a Saturday.  I was at work when she got the call.
While this was sudden, it was not a big surprise.
We are talking about a man who had a quadruple bypass heart surgery 11 years ago.
And still smoked, ate steaks, didn't exercise, and drank an occasional beer.
I am glad he hung on as long as he did.

While he loved his daughter and granddaughter, he lived three states away.
And on a retired man's money.  Only got up to see us about once a year.

We drove down to see the family.   They were more than happy to watch Princess for awhile when needed.
We made the arrangements at the funeral home.
We rested for the next day.

As we arrived at the church for the service, everyone was talking and greeting relatives they hadn't seen in years.
Princess looked at all the people and the flowers and asked an innocent question:
"What are we doing here?"
"We are here to say Goodbye to Grandpa"  I answered.
"That's a bad word." She stated plainly
"What is?"  I asked.  Puzzled at her statement.
"Goodbye to Grandpa"  She said.

All I could do was give her a big hug.  While we would all miss him, she said what everyone was thinking.
As only a child can.