As we pulled into Kurt’s grandparents house Christmas day Joshua asked “Where are we?” Kaleb and Charleigh looked out the window and quickly recognized their surroundings. “We’re at Grandma and Grandpa P——‘s house” Kaleb replied matter of factly. “WHAT!?!” Joshua exclaimed, “You mean there are MORE Grandma and Grandpas!” You see my children have been blessed with many a grandparent and we had already seen a great many of them in the past week. Only 3 years old and us only visiting yearly (shameful, I know) Joshua had no memory of these particular grandparents. The mere idea that he may have MORE grandparents was overwhelming to this boy. As soon as he was unbuckled Joshua made a bee line for the front door. Where were these grandparents? In his few short years Joshua has come to understand that where there are grandparents there is fun and maybe even sugar as well. He quickly found Grandpa and hugged him like only Joshua can. “Hi Grandpa, you’re my grandpa!” he proclaimed. You’d have thought we saw him everyday with the way Joshua latched on to him!

Joshua spent most of the day playing outside in the unusually warm weather. Every so often he would leave “his kids” for a bit to check on who he was now referring to as his “old friend”. The two held a fabulous conversation about bouncy balls and rocks. At the end of the day they parted ways with a giant squeeze. As we drove off Joshua announced, “I sure do like my old friend”.

Tuesday afternoon we pulled into the same driveway. Joshua had a hard time waking up once we arrived but as soon as he did he started looking for two things: his bouncy ball and his “old friend”. I reminded him that his bouncy ball was at home and that Grandpa had died on Sunday. He looked up at me with eyes that clearly showed he had no idea what I was talking about then he ran off to find “his kids”.

That evening before we drove back to Texas we stopped at the Funeral home while some of the family was going in to see Grandpa. I have a personal policy against viewing dead bodies; I would much prefer to remember Grandpa as he was two weeks before on Christmas day, so I chose to stay in the foyer. Kurt went in and I stayed out with the children. The way the rooms were set up you could sit in the entry way and see the room where Grandpa was but you couldn’t actually see him without going in. So there we sat watching as others went in and out to say their goodbyes. My kids couldn’t stand their own curiosity. I explained the happenings and why I was choosing to stay in the other room. Kaleb said he wanted to go in and see Grandpa, I told him it was his decision. He decided to go in. Joshua then started saying he wanted to have a decision too. Actually it was more like “I want to get a precision, why does Kaleb get to go get a precision and I don’t?” Charleigh then informed me that she too wanted to go in and so I motioned for someone to take her in. Joshua watched closely, you could see the gears in his head working. He wanted to go in this room where the decision was and Mommy didn’t. Then he came up with his master plan: He would break free and run knowing that Mommy wouldn’t follow. He was right, I didn’t follow. As he made his way across the threshold he turned and gave me a look of triumph. First he went to smell the flowers, I watched as he commented on the pretty roses then he turned and you could see on his face that he had seen his Grandpa. “Oh, Oh, No! My Old Friend is Broken!” As I got up to get him I saw Kurt’s uncle turn to console my boy, Joshua repeated “My old friend is broken!” Kurt’s uncle replied quietly, “Yes, Joshua, Grandpa is sleeping” The no nonsense 3 yr old answered back “No, he’s not sleeping. My old friend is broken.” Then with an assured walk and a knowing look he turned and walked out of the room.