In Our Minds and In Our Hearts

Once again, it's been awhile since my last blog post. This time, it's not due to some general apathy on my part. Unfortunately, instead, the reason for so long between posts is that we were out of town a bit last week, attending to family matters. Hubby lost his oldest brother after a lengthy battle with an illness.

Explaining death is never easy, especially when the one who has passed on seemed to go too soon. And when you have young children around to ask questions, you never know what you'll get.

So, after hearing the sad news last week, I headed to our library later that day, sat on the floor and read and read, and then checked out 4 kids books from the bunches and bunches available (our library rocks!). I wanted to have something ready for when the questions came.

My mom might be chuckling by now, because I'm so predictable: when the going gets tough, the tough turn to books. But hey, if someone's been through this before and has shared it all by writing it down, why not take a look? Why reinvent the wheel? I like to see what's out there and take the best of what I find...

So now, in an attempt to share something worthwhile, after such a sad time in our family, I thought I'd post about some of books we read. (We didn't sit and just read these together, one after the other; the books served more as a resource to me - to have some good words to use to explain this time in our lives.)

Also, since Uncle J loved books and loved reading, I'm hoping that sharing this info would somehow please him.

OK, on with the list....

Jellybeans, by Sylvia van Ommen
This is a short, sweet book. Two friends, a rabbit and a cat if I remember correctly, are meeting up and seem to randomly talk about what it might be like in heaven - will they meet up? would they still be friends? can they eat jellybeans together?



I'll Miss You, Mr. Hooper, by Norman Stiles (based on the Sesame Street TV script)
Hard to go wrong with word from the Street. Had some nice parent discussion pointers after the story as well.




What's Heaven? by Maria Shriver (yes, that Maria Shriver)
This book had way too many words, was way too long to read to Quinn. I did read it myself, however, and got some nice little kid-friendly phrases to use in discussions that we had later in the week.



Where Do People Go When They Die? by Mindy Avra Portnoy


My personal favorite. Written by a Rabbi, but not faith-specific. The book shows several different children asking the title question to various family members. They each answer differently, but yet it puts it all together. There is also an afterword in this book, which provides tips to parents on having a discussion about death.


Where do people go when they die? "They go to God. Who is everywhere. In heaven and on earth. In our minds and in our hearts. In the past and in the future. In each of us who remembers them always."

We will remember you always, JPB.
Amen.