Berried

Even in a time of elephantine vanity and greed, one never has to look far to see the campfires of gentle people.~Garrison Keillor

My friend's dad died the other day and, while he was well into his 70's, it is sad to lose your dad.  We were talking about him while at the dinner table recounting stories that made us smile or laugh and I was reminded of  a time when Sean was four and in daycare.

His daycare provider, Donna (the most wonderful woman I have EVER met), had taken the kids to O'Keefe Ranch.  The ranch is a reconstructed village of old buildings, main "big house", a store, church, blacksmith shop, pottery shop, wagons, horses, steam engines and lots of things to do and see.  They made their way through the village and up to the church and then out through the cemetery.  Tierney O'Keefe, a descendant of the original family,  had died two weeks previous and the mound of dirt at his gravesite was very large.  The kids saw the pile of dirt as an opportunity to play but Donna asked them to respect it as Tierny O'Keefe was buried there.  No problem for the kids there was so much more to see and do. 

That night after I read Sean a bed time story, I asked about his day . He told me that he saw the pile of dirt where Mr. O'Keefe had been buried.  He seemed really excited about it so I took it as an opportunity to talk further about death and burials and all of a sudden noticed the look on his face changing.  I then realized he had confused "buried" with "berried",  hadn't really known that a body was in the ground,  and was thinking more about fruit than death.  I asked if he was ok and he said yes that he was.

 I few seconds later he said "mom, when I die will you come into my pile with me?"



this picture is from http://things-we-heart.blogspot.com/




I love this song  "Forever" by Vertical Horizon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRw5XWp-saQ&feature=related