Up In Heaven

Grandma Fran died today. Or rather, last night. I've been trying to explain what that means to two little boys all evening.

Mom: "Grandma Fran lives up in Heaven with Jesus now."
Quinn: "Is she dead?"
Mom: "Yes. It makes me very sad."
Quinn: "What died her?"
Mom : "We don't know. She was just getting ready for bed, and died."
Colby: "Did someone die her?"
Mom: "No. I think Jesus just wanted her with Him, so He took her home."
Quinn: "We saw her at Grandma Betty's house."
Mom: "Yup. That's the last time you saw her."
Quinn: "Mom, why are you crying over the jelly?"
Mom: "Grandma Fran made this jelly for us for Christmas. It's the last thing I got from her. It makes me think of her."
Colby: "If she's up in Heaven, she's not dead."
Mom: "Her soul is up in Heaven, her body is still here on earth. We'll bury her body in the ground."
Colby: "WHAT? She has no bones up in Heaven? If she has no bones, she's DEAD!"
Mom: "Her body is dead. Her SOUL is alive in Heaven with Jesus."
Colby: "Do you have a map to Heaven? How did she get there?"
Mom: "That's a tough one. She left her body here, and the part that was HER went up to be with Jesus. You can't find it on a map."
Colby: "Yes you can. I have a map to Heaven. I know how to get there."
Mom: "OK. You know your toy robot dinosaur? When the batteries die, it doesn't work anymore. It needs the energy from the batteries. It's like the dinosaur stayed here on earth, but the batteries went up to Heaven to be with Jesus." Bad, bad analogy, Mom. How do you explain a SOUL to little boys? "The part that makes Colby Colby and Quinn Quinn is your soul." I'm not doing a good job.

I finally just tucked them in and said goodnight, because my explanations were sounding really lame. I'm glad they remember her, though, since we saw her so rarely after moving to Michigan. I hope they have some recollection of what an amazing, beautiful, vivacious woman she was. My grandma.