My grandma (otherwise know as GiGi, short for great grandma) passed away recently.? She was 94 years old.? It was a difficult time for us.? We all went to stay with my mom to help prepare for the funeral.? My grandma lived with my mom for her last couple years, so the kids did notice that she wasn’t there when we went to visit.? They asked for her a lot and it was a challenge trying to explain to them that she wasn’t here anymore – that she was in heaven.? My daughter asked me if we could go to heaven to see her.? It was sad and cute at the same time.
The one issue I was having was whether or not to bring them to the funeral service.? We decided to take them and just keep them in the back of the church for the service.? What we didn’t realize is that the funeral home brought my grandmas body into the church AFTER we had gotten there.? They wheeled the casket right by the kids from the back of the church to the front.? I was a bit upset and I it looked like my oldest (4 1/2) was in shock.? The funeral directors opened the casket before wheeling my grandma up to the front.? So from a child’s perspective it must’ve looked pretty odd to see her inside this big box being wheeled around.
On top of everything, I was nervous because my brother and I were doing the eulogy.? So all I could do was quickly explain to both my son and daughter, again, that Gigi (pronounced JiJi) died and that her body was sleeping and whatever else came to my mind at the time.
After the funeral, we got caught up with family, the catered luncheon, and taking pictures with family that we hadn’t seen in years.? The kids forgot about it and I was too exhausted to bring it up.? I decided to wait on them to ask me questions if they needed to.
It has been a few months now.? We have been back to my moms since the funeral and the kids have moved on.?? How quickly children can recover and forget.? But do they really forget?
Well, a couple weeks ago I found both of my children sitting next to eachother talking quietly watching a doll that they had carefully laid out on top of my daughter’s crib.? They turned the crib over and then laid a blanket over the doll. ? I asked them what they were doing and they explained to me that the doll had died.? It was so adorable, but yet so sad.? I took a picture of what they did.? It really looks just like my grandma did when she was in the casket.? Kids are so smart aren’t they?
Have any of you moms had to deal with this type of situation yet?? If so, how did you handle it?
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