Liam and His Grandma in Heaven

We went to a funeral last week.

My friend's grandmother passed away.

Liam, Ewan and I went to the funeral. The boys were great for most of it and sat listening to everyone speak, eating vegemite and cheese sandwhiches. We had talked about how important it was for Dom, my friend, to say goodbye to her grandmother.

Liam started to get a bit restless towards the end so we had a little chat. There was music playing and I pointed out the coffin, and told him that Dom's grandma was probably up in heaven with Daddy's mummy.

Liam sat for a while thinking and said "Daddy's mummy is my grandma."

I said, yes she is.

His face was so sad looking and his lips started to quiver and he said "Me didn't get to meet my grandma. Me didn't get to say goodbye."

I had tears streaming down my face and all I could say was, "I know".

He talked about his grandma a lot that afternoon driving home and then again before bed.

Liam just cried and cried about how sad he was that he didn't get to see his grandma walking and talking. How he really wanted to play with her. And that he wanted to say goodbye to her.

It was heartbreaking listening to him and nothing would comfort him. He asked us if his grandma wanted to die and I told him no, she didn't. Then he would start crying again saying that he didn't want her to die either.

We talked about how some people believe in heaven. That we don't know if it's a real place but that it's nice to think that all the people we've loved are up there together - maybe somewhere near the stars. I told Liam that sometimes I talk to my Dida (grandfather) and that I don't know if he can hear me but it feels good to talk to him. And that he can talk to his grandma too if he wants. He didn't know what to think about that. But he did think it would be good to draw some pictures and write a letter to put inside a balloon to send to his grandma. So we're going to do it sometime this week so that Liam can say a hello, and a goodbye to his grandma that he never met but still loves so much.

So look out for our balloons Carolyn, you may be gone but you are certainly not forgotten.